Tonga

Tonga hold on against gallant Lebanon

In Saturday's end-to-end affair, which will go down as one of the most-exciting tussles of the tournament, Tonga's first-half display was just enough to get them over the line.

Pacific Tests confirmed for Origin period

Six nations will compete during a three-match festival at Campbelltown Stadium on June 23. Tonga, Samoa, Lebanon and Papua New Guinea will be joined by two further teams to be confirmed in the coming weeks.

Samoa, Tonga, PNG make changes for World Cup quarters

Toa Samoa have made three changes for Friday night's match against Australia in Darwin, with captain Frank Pritchard and halfback Ben Roberts back for their clash with the defending champions, while lock Leeson Ah Mau also returns to the back row.

Pritchard and Roberts did not play in Saturday's 14-14 draw against Scotland, which earned Samoa a spot in the knockout rounds despite failing to win a game during the group stage.

Tonga boosted by settled preparation

Having played at Waikato Stadium last Saturday, where they beat Samoa 32-18, Tonga have remained in Hamilton all week as they prepare to play New Zealand at the same venue, allowing for an ideal build up for the match which will decide who tops Pool B.

Tonga coach wants NRL to invest more money in to Pacific teams

Tonga sealed their second win in the tournament against Samoa on Saturday night at a packed-out FMG Stadium in Hamilton.

The stadium was a sea of colours as fans showed up to sing, cheer and dance for their Pacific teams. 

Woolf says the experience was one of a kind and it proves that Pacific teams are worth the investment.

"The first step I think is putting on more games. We'd love to play Samoa every year and I know they'd love to play us every year and I'm sure the fans would love to see that as well."

Tonga savour watershed moment

With a 32-18 win over Samoa on Saturday night, Tonga made it two wins from two at the tournament and assured themselves of advancing beyond the group stage for the first time in five attempts dating back to 1995.

The victory in front of over 18,000 fans at Waikato Stadium was also just the second time Tonga have tasted victory over their Pacific neighbours in a rugby league Test match, with coach Kristian Woolf happy for his men to celebrate before re-focussing for their final pool game against New Zealand.

Tonga book maiden World Cup finals spot

A commanding performance from Tonga's star forward pack laid the platform, and off the back of it they starved Samoa of the ball and took full advantage of their opposition's sloppy errors to score five tries.

Taumalolo runs riot in big Tonga win

The team that was the talk of the World Cup prior to the tournament kicked off due to the high-profile inclusions of Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita wasted no time to show that what is on paper will transfer to the field, Michael Jennings scoring the opening four-pointer of his first half hat-trick inside the first three minutes.

Tonga top Italy in World Cup warm-up

All eyes were on forwards Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita, both playing their first match for Tonga since turning their backs on New Zealand and Australia, but the duo only played the first 20 minutes of the match.

Australia dominate Pacific teams at Hockey5s competition

Samoa and Solomons Men met for the first time for many years and it provided a close tussle. 

At the conclusion of the match it was a 2 all draw.

To find the winner involved the first shootout competition of the tournament.

Exciting goalkeeping kept the score 1-1 as different strikers had their turns however, it was in sudden death that Samoa, in their first Hockey5s shootout broke the deadlock to take the game.

The highlight game in the women's section was the match between Samoa and Fiji. Samoa really challenged Fiji and the match ended 6-4 to Fiji.