Tongan newcomers seek to embrace the ‘survive or die’ atmosphere of Kiwi rivalry

Players such as Isaiah Katoa, Paul Alamoti and Lekhi Hopoate were inspired to play for Tonga after watching the Pacific nation upset the New Zealanders at the 2017 World Cup and now they are hoping to do the same.

In perhaps the most important game between the two countries, the winner of Saturday’s match will face Australia in the Pacific Cup final next weekend, while the loser will face the winner of the Pacific Bowl in a play-off.

Tonga fans are set to turn Go Media Stadium into the Red Sea as they did in 2018 and 2019 when Tonga beat Australia, with New Zealand coach Stacey Jones telling her players: “This is our home.”

The atmosphere is expected to be electric and Tongan coach Christian Woolf said his players were keen to experience it – especially those who had not previously represented the Pacific nation in the Auckland Test.

“We love coming to New Zealand to play; we get a ton of support here, a lot of the players have families and connections here and we know in recent history when we go to Mt Smart to play we get sold out crowds,” Woolf said.

“The atmosphere here is amazing and it’s great to play in front of family, fans and friends, so we’re looking forward to the occasion.

“For many of the guys, this is the first experience of performing in front of such an audience at Mt Smart in Tonga and with such vocal support.

“It’s a great experience for all of us and it’ll be a great experience for the young guys.”

The Tonga side, which shocked New Zealand 28-22 in 2017 and only missed out on a place in the World Cup final after a last-minute try was disallowed against England, was full of players with international experience.

Taumalolo, Sio Siua Taukeiaho and David Fusitua were the Kiwi stars and Andrew Fifita was in the Kangaroos squad, but they joined the likes of Will Hopoate, Daniel Tupou, Sika Manu and Conrad Harrell to put Tonga on the international map.

Since then, Wolfe has been able to introduce a new crop of players inspired by what the team did at the 2017 World Cup and beyond.

“We are very fortunate that we are in a position where some of those young guys who have come into our team in recent years – Isaiah Katoa, Paul Alamoti, Isaiah Yongi, Siua Wong, Kulikefu Finefeyaki – were 12 or 13 years old in 2017 , and they watched the match. Red Sea,” he said.

“They watched guys like Jason Taumalolo, Addin Fonua-Blake, Daniel Tupou, Siliva Havili and Tui Lolohea and what they did for Tonga and wanted to be part of it.

“It’s great to be able to bring these generations together now.”

Tonga lost 18-0 to Australia in the opening weekend of the Pacific Championship at Suncorp Stadium, while the Kiwis lost 22-10 to the Kangaroos last Sunday.

Defeat in Christchurch puts the defending Pacific Cup champions in danger of missing out on the final unless they beat Tonga.

“We watched the game between Australia and New Zealand at the weekend and of course we were hoping Australia would win, but for no other reason than that it kept us alive and we wanted to go into this game with the opportunity to play final. – said Wolf.

“I don’t want to ignore this game at all, this game is a really big and important game for us.

“Only recently have we had the opportunity to play against countries like Australia and New Zealand.

“Obviously if we can get a result this weekend that will allow us to play an even bigger game next week, but first we need to get the result right.”