Ba will host its first-ever international rugby match later this month when the Vodafone Fijiana XV take on Manusina Samoa at Four R Stadium, Govind Park on April 25, organisers have confirmed. The fixture is the final match of the 2026 Oceania Women’s XV Rugby Championship and marks the first time international rugby of any code will be played in Ba, organisers and Oceania Rugby say.
The championship is a compact three-team contest in which Tonga, Fiji and Samoa meet across two venues. The opening fixtures will both be staged at Churchill Park in Lautoka: Tonga face Fiji on April 17 with kick-off at 4.30pm, and Tonga meet Samoa at the same venue on April 21 at 4.30pm. The April 25 match in Ba completes the round-robin series and will decide the tournament placings.
Oceania Rugby competition manager Lemalu Wayne Schuster described the Ba fixture as a landmark for women’s rugby in Fiji. “It’s immensely special and exciting in the sense that we are able to take women’s rugby to a part of Fiji where, for one, international rugby has never been played,” Schuster told Times Sport. He said bringing representative teams “not only from Fiji but across the Pacific to Ba is exciting and one that we are very much looking forward to.”
Govind Park — marketed for this event as Four R Stadium — has been prepared for elite rugby action after recently hosting high-profile Super Rugby Pacific traffic. The venue held the Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific clash between the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua and the Brumbies last month, demonstrating it can stage top-level fixtures and offering a ready platform for the Fijiana XV’s return to a domestic venue outside Suva or Lautoka.
Organisers say staging the final in Ba aims to expand the reach of women’s rugby across Fiji and give more communities the opportunity to watch top-level Pacific sides in person. For local supporters in Ba, the event presents an unprecedented chance to see the Fijiana XV and Samoa play on home soil and to engage with development pathways for young female players.
With the three-team round-robin format, every match carries weight: results from the Lautoka fixtures on April 17 and 21 will shape what is required in the April 25 finale. Tonga’s back-to-back matches in Lautoka set up the decider in Ba as a likely showcase for whichever side can sustain form through the short tournament.
The match schedule and venues are the latest published details for the 2026 Oceania Women’s XV Rugby Championship. Organisers have signalled they expect the competition to be used as a development and exposure platform for women’s XVs across the Pacific, and the staging of the Ba final is being presented as a practical step in taking international fixtures to new communities.
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