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72 WORLD RUGBY YEAR IN REVIEW 2015With the All Blacks creating Rugby World Cup history by winning back-to-back titles with victory over Australia at Twickenham, and the success of New Zealand’s women and Fiji’s men on the World Sevens Series, it is easy to see that it was a memorable year for rugby in Oceania.Oceania teams have also confirmed their places at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games when sevens will make its debut, with New Zealand and Fiji men qualifying through the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and New Zealand and Australia through the Women’s Sevens Series.They were joined in November by Australia’s men and Fiji’s women through the Oceania regional Olympic qualifying tournament in New Zealand, while for Samoa’s men and women, Tonga’s men and the Cook Islands’ women the dream is still alive as they will play in the global repechage in 2016.Fiji also claimed the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup title in August, beating Samoa in the final in Canada. Tonga ensured it would be an Oceania one-two-three by beating Japan in the third place play-off. New Zealand also reclaimed the World Rugby U20 Championship title in Italy.But while that is evident, behind the scenes it was also a hugely YEAR TO REMEMBER FOR OCEANIA RUGBYBELOW Fiji qualified for Rio 2016 by winning the HSBC World Rugby Sevens SeriesOceania Rugby enjoyed a successful year both on and off the pitch in 2015 with increases in participation and titles on the world stage.successful year for participation numbers across all member unions of Oceania Rugby – the regional association’s new name – with a 63 per cent increase in total participation and 58 per cent increase in female participation.In May a ‘SuperWeek’ of workshops took place in Sydney, Australia, bringing many stakeholders from Oceania together in one place at the same time and in a cost-effective manner.This SuperWeek involved many aspects relating to off the pitch elements, including a three-day development workshop, a two-day judicial workshop, a one-day finance workshop, a two-day team managers workshop and a one-day high performance meeting.increase in total participationincrease in female participation58%63%The other elements were a Leading Rugby workshop (two days), a Rugby World Cup media workshop (one day), a referee panel selection meeting (half a day), an AGM workshop (one day) and the Annual General Meeting.On the training and education front, the workforce has grown in the Oceania region, particularly in New Zealand and Australia who have now adopted the World Rugby training pathway and coach level 2 and 3 courses. The four strands of this pathway in match officials, coaches, strength and conditioning and medical are all progressing well. www.oceaniarugby.comtwitter: @oceaniarugbyINSPIRING PARTICIPATION | AROUND THE REGIONS