Tonga national rugby union team

Rugby was brought to the region in the early 20th century by sailors and missionaries, and the Tonga Rugby Football Union was formed in late 1923. Tonga beat Fiji 9–6 in their first test in 1924 played in the capital Nukuʻalofa. However, Tonga lost the second test 14–3 and drew the decider 0–0.

Between 1924 and 1938 Tonga and Fiji played three test series every alternate year. Matches between the two Pacific nations were hard fought; many have claimed that the ancient feuding wars between the Islanders were transplanted onto the rugby field. Troubles during the third Test of Fiji's 1928 tour to Tonga forced the game to be abandoned with Tonga leading 11–8. In 1954 Tonga played host to a touring Western Samoa.

Tonga beat New Zealand Māori in 1969, but had to wait until 1973 before they played their second test match, a 30–12 defeat against Australia in Sydney. They got their revenge when they beat Australia in Ballymore, Brisbane 16–11, scoring four tries to two in June 1973. The following year they traveled to the Arms Park for a non-cap international against Wales, a game that ended in a 26–7 defeat.

The first Tongan tour to Great Britain was in 1974, when they played 10 games, including those in Wales against East Wales, Llanelli, North Wales, Newport, West Wales and a Wales XV. The only tour victory was by 18–13 in the opener against East Wales. The 'tests' were lost by 44–8 to a Scotland XV and by 26–7 to the Wales XV.

They remained a little-known quantity in Europe until 1986, when Wales embarked on a tour of Fiji, Tonga and Western Samoa. Early in the game against Tonga, Welsh flanker Mark Brown was knocked over by three Tongan forwards, leading to a mass brawl involving the entire team except Malcolm Dacey and Mark Titley. Robert Jones describes the event in his book Raising The Dragon as "the worst brawl I have ever seen on a rugby field." At the post-match dinner Jonathan Davies was asked to give a few words in Welsh and as the hosts politely applauded he described them as "the dirtiest team I have ever played against"

Tonga were drawn to play Wales again in the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. The previous meeting, plus the decision to rest some of the leading players, led to a poor Welsh performance though they managed to win 29–16. Tonga lost its other two games to Ireland (32–9) and Canada (37–4).

They failed to qualify for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. In 1994 they won the South Pacific championship on try count and so qualified for the Super 10, in which they finished bottom of their pool with only one point.

They qualified for the 1995 World Cup ahead of Fiji on points difference. Tonga managed only two victories in the next two World Cups, against the 29–11 Côte d'Ivoire in 1995 and Italy in 1999. The win over the Côte d'Ivoire brought tragedy when Ivorian winger Max Brito was left paralyzed.

June 1999 brought a 20–16 defeat of France in Nukuʻalofa over a touring France but in 2000 they were defeated 102–0 (including 15 tries) by New Zealand.

After losing their first four matches to Fiji and Samoa, Tonga finished third in the Oceania qualifying group. As a result, they had to play home and away matches against Papua New Guinea, which they won 47–14 and 84–12, followed by a play-off against South Korea, who finished as runners-up in the Asian section. Tonga thrashed them 75–0 and 119–0.

At the 2003 Rugby World Cup Tonga lost all their games and finished bottom of their pool. Although they kept Wales to 20–27, they were again thrashed by New Zealand 91–7.

In 2007 Tonga participated in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, winning two of their pool matches and nearly defeating the eventual champions, South Africa, before losing 30–25.

Tonga achieved one of the most unexpected victories in Rugby World Cup history with their 19–14 win over France in the 2011 World Cup.

On 24 November 2012, Tonga beat Scotland, at Pittodrie Stadium, 21–15 for their first victory over a traditional rugby power on a European pitch.

Like several Pacific rugby nations, Tonga has a pre-game war dance, called the Sipi Tau. It is a form of the Kailao, which was originally a war dance that was imported to Tonga from Wallis Island. It is usually performed at both public and private ceremonies.

During the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, in Tonga's match against the All Blacks, the All Blacks began their traditional haka, and then Tonga answered to the haka through the sipi tau whilst the All Blacks were performing, bringing the teams within metres of one another just prior to kick-off.[1]

Men's World Rugby Rankings
Top 30 rankings as of 13 January 2021[2]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		South Africa	094.20
2		England	089.49
3		New Zealand	088.95
4		France	085.30
5		Ireland	084.65
6		Australia	083.08
7		Scotland	080.82
8		Argentina	080.31
9		Wales	079.36
10		Japan	079.29
11		Fiji	076.87
12		Georgia	072.18
13		Tonga	071.44
14		Italy	070.88
15		Samoa	070.72
16		United States	068.10
17		Spain	067.51
18		Uruguay	067.02
19		Romania	065.33
20		Portugal	062.12
21		Russia	061.96
22		Hong Kong	061.23
23		Canada	061.11
24		Namibia	061.04
25		Netherlands	060.09
26		Brazil	058.19
27		Belgium	057.17
28		Switzerland	054.12
29		Chile	053.81
30		Germany	053.13
*Change from the previous week
Tonga's historical rankings
See or edit raw graph data.
Source: World Rugby - Graph updated to 16 November 2020[2]

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Tongan national XV at test level up until 22 April 2020.[3]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Argentina	2	0	2	0	0%	28	73	–45
Australia	4	1	3	0	25%	42	167	—125
Australia A	1	0	1	0	0.00%	15	60	–45
Canada	9	4	5	0	44.44%	188	216	–28
Chile	1	1	0	0	100.00%	32	30	+2
Cook Islands	3	3	0	0	100.00%	235	22	+213
England	3	0	3	0	0.00%	33	172	–139
England XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	17	37	–20
Fiji	92	27	62	3	30.97%	1237	1809	–572
France	6	2	4	0	33.33%	96	172	–76
Georgia	7	2	5	0	33.33%	141	119	+22
Ireland	2	0	2	0	0.00%	28	72	—44
Italy	5	2	3	0	40.00%	82	154	–72
Ivory Coast	1	1	0	0	100.00%	29	11	+18
Japan	18	9	9	0	50.00%	453	459	–6
Namibia	2	2	0	0	100%	55	35	+20
New Caledonia	1	1	0	0	100%	58	3	+55
New Zealand	6	0	6	0	0.00%	42	418	–376
Junior All Blacks	2	0	2	0	0.00%	23	77	–54
Māori	12	4	8	0	33.33%	165	319	—154
Papua New Guinea	2	2	0	0	100.00%	131	26	+105
Portugal	1	1	0	0	100.00%	24	19	+5
Romania	3	2	1	0	66.67%	64	55	+9
Samoa	65	27	34	4	42.19%	973	1144	–171
Scotland	4	1	3	0	25.00%	58	136	–78
Scotland XV	2	0	2	0	0.00%	13	67	–55
Solomon Islands	1	1	0	0	0.00%	92	3	+89
South Korea	6	6	0	0	100.00%	464	66	+398
South Africa	2	0	2	0	0.00%	35	104	–69
Spain	1	1	0	0	100.00%	28	13	+15
Tahiti	1	1	0	0	100.00%	74	0	+74
United States	10	9	1	0	88.89%	272	153	+119
Wales	9	0	9	0	0.00%	108	301	–193
Wales XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	7	26	—19
Zimbabwe	1	1	0	0	100.00%	42	13	+29
Total	286	111	168	7	38.81%	5384	6551	–1167

World Cup record

World Cup record									World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A		P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Pool Stage	3	0	0	3	29	98		Automatically qualified
1991	Did not qualify								3	1	0	2	64	62
1995	Pool Stage	3	1	0	2	44	90		2	1	0	1	34	26
1999	Pool Stage	3	1	0	2	47	171		7	2	0	5	317	241
2003	Pool Stage	4	0	0	4	46	178		8	4	0	4	398	178
2007	Pool Stage	4	2	0	2	89	96		7	3	0	4	329	136
2011	Pool Stage	4	2	0	2	80	98		Automatically qualified
2015	Pool Stage	4	1	0	3	70	130
2019	Pool Stage	4	1	0	3	67	105		4	1	0	3	68	93
Total	8/9	29	8	0	21	472	966		31	12	0	19	1210	736

Tonga announced their 31-man squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup on 1 September 2019.[4]

On 24 September, Kurt Morath and Nafi Tuitavake were ruled out for the remainder of the tournament following injuries sustained in Tonga's opening match against England. Latiume Fosita and Fetuli Paea replaced them.[5]

Note: Caps correct as of 13 October 2019

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Siua Maile	Hooker	(1997-02-18) 18 February 1997	3	Shirley Rugby Club
Paul Ngauamo	Hooker	(1990-02-19) 19 February 1990	22	Agen
Sosefo Sakalia	Hooker	(1991-12-14) 14 December 1991	13	Asia Pacific Dragons
Maʻafu Fia	Prop	(1989-11-22) 22 November 1989	10	Ospreys
Vunipola Fifita	Prop	(1996-02-18) 18 February 1996	5	Brumbies
Siegfried Fisi'ihoi	Prop	(1987-06-08) 8 June 1987	13	Pau
Siua Halanukonuka	Prop	(1986-08-09) 9 August 1986	13	Glasgow Warriors
Latu Talakai	Prop	(1989-12-26) 26 December 1989	7	Eastwood
Ben Tameifuna	Prop	(1991-08-30) 30 August 1991	13	Racing 92
Leva Fifita	Lock	(1989-07-29) 29 July 1989	19	Grenoble
Sam Lousi	Lock	(1991-07-20) 20 July 1991	8	Hurricanes
Steve Mafi	Lock	(1989-12-09) 9 December 1989	33	London Irish
Daniel Faleafa	Loose forward	(1989-02-13) 13 February 1989	25	Austin Elite
Sione Kalamafoni	Loose forward	(1988-05-18) 18 May 1988	37	Leicester Tigers
Zane Kapeli	Loose forward	(1992-09-28) 28 September 1992	10	Bay of Plenty
Fotu Lokotui	Loose forward	(1992-03-19) 19 March 1992	9	Kagifa Samoa
Nasi Manu	Loose forward	(1988-08-15) 15 August 1988	7	Benetton
Maama Vaipulu	Loose forward	(1989-07-21) 21 July 1989	12	Castres
Samisoni Fisilau	Half-back	(1987-11-29) 29 November 1987	19	Auckland Marist
Leon Fukofuka	Half-back	(1994-09-08) 8 September 1994	11	Kagifa Samoa
Sonatane Takulua	Half-back	(1991-01-11) 11 January 1991	38	Newcastle Falcons
James Faiva	First five-eighth	(1994-06-13) 13 June 1994	9	El Salvador
Latiume Fosita	First five-eighth	(1992-07-25) 25 July 1992	32	Kagifa Samoa
Mali Hingano	Centre	(1992-01-27) 27 January 1992	7	Bayonne
Siale Piutau (c)	Centre	(1985-10-13) 13 October 1985	43	Bristol Rugby
Viliami Lolohea	Wing	(1993-07-04) 4 July 1993	11	Papatoetoe
Fetuli Paea	Wing	(1994-08-16) 16 August 1994	2	Tasman
Atieli Pakalani	Wing	(1989-08-02) 2 August 1989	13	Eastwood
Cooper Vuna	Wing	(1987-07-05) 5 July 1987	16	Newcastle Falcons
David Halaifonua	Fullback	(1987-07-05) 5 July 1987	37	Coventry
Telusa Veainu	Fullback	(1990-12-26) 26 December 1990	11	Stade Français

Tonga usually wears a home kit consistent of a red shirt, white shorts and red socks and an away kit with the reversed colours. In the 1999 Rugby World Cup, Tonga wore an all-red home kit. Since 2007, Tongan traditional designs, similar to the ones found on the tapa cloths, were incorporated on the jersey design.

Kit manufacturers:

• 1974–1980s Umbro
• 1980s–1999 Canterbury
• 2000–2002 Carisbrook
• 2003–2005 Sekem
• 2005–2008 KooGa
• 2008 Samurai Sportswear^a
• 2008–2010 Aoniu^b
• 2011–2012 KooGa/BLK
• 2012–2015 Kukri
• 2016– Mizuno
• ^a Tonga wore Samurai Sportswear kits in the matches against Maori All Blacks and Japan in 2008
• ^b Tonga wore kits manufactured by the local brand Aoniu in the 2008 end-of-year international tours.

1987–1995 Home

1987–1995 Away

1999 RWC Home

2003 Home

2003 Away

2007 Home

2015 Home

2015 Away

2017 Home

2017 Away

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tonga national rugby union team.

• Tonga national rugby league team
• World Cup
• Pacific Tri-Nations
• Pacific Nations Cup
• 2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup
• Pacific Islanders rugby union team
• Tonga Rugby Football Union

• Tongan rugby history (from the BBC)
• The good and bad of Tonga (from the BBC)

• Official site
• Tongan rugby union news from Planet Rugby
• Tongan Rugby News
• Details on Rugby WC's squads
• World Cup Preview
• Supporters website of The Pacific Islanders Rugby Team