Tonga national rugby league team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tonga
Nickname	Mate Ma'a
Association	Tongan Rugby League
Confederation	Oceania
Head coach	Jimmy Dimmock
Captain	Fuifui Moimoi
Home stadium	Mangweni Stadium
RLIF ranking	4th
National Uniform
First international Western Samoa 40 - 30 Tonga (Nuku'alofa, Tonga; November 1988)
Biggest win Tokelau 0 - 62 Tonga (Auckland, New Zealand; December 2006
Biggest defeat New Zealand 74 - 0 Tonga (Auckland, New Zealand; 27 October 1999)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (First in 1995)
Best result	Round 1, 1995 and 2000

The Tonga national rugby league team has been participating in international competition since 1988. Members of the team are selected from the domestic Tongan competition, as well as from competitions in New Zealand and Australia.

Contents 1 History 2 2008 Rugby League World Cup 3 Results 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History

Since Tonga began competing in international rugby league it has participated in the Pacific Cup (since 1988), World Sevens (1994-2003), World Cup (since 1995), Superleague World Nines (1996, 1997), Superleague Oceania Tournament (1997), Papua New Guinea Fiftieth Anniversary Competition (1998) and Pacific Rim (2004) competitions.

The Tongans are capable of putting together a side that can match the best in rugby league. They did that in their World Cup debut match, against New Zealand at Warrington in 1995, when only a last minute drop-goal denied Tonga a draw. Two days later they had to play Papua New Guinea which resulted in a 28-all draw, after Tonga had led 20-nil at half-time.

Since then, the Papua New Guinea Kumuls hammered Tonga in the final of the 1998 PNG 50th anniversary tournament.

[edit] 2008 Rugby League World Cup

See 2008 Rugby League World Cup qualifying

Tonga have become the first team to qualify for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup following an 18-10 victory over Samoa at Headingley Carnegie Stadium that doubled as the two nations' opening fixture of the Federation Shield. Tonga finished first in a group containing Fiji, Samoa, and Cook Islands as a result. Tonga's results during qualification were a 56-14 victory over Cook Islands, a 30-28 loss to Fiji, and the 18-10 victory over Samoa to secure qualification.

[edit] Results

These results do not include sevens or nines competitions.

• England 40 def. Tonga 18 (29 October 2006)
• Tonga 18 def. Samoa 10 (22 October 2006)
• Fiji 30 def. Tonga 28 (4 October 2006)
• Tonga 56 def. Cook Islands 14 (29 September 2006)
• Tonga def. Fiji 22-4 (2006)
• Tonga def New Zealand Maoris 42-14 (2006)
• Tonga def Tokelau 62-0 (2006)
• Tonga def. Samoa 34-20 October 7, 2005
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 38-30 (4 October 2004)
• Tonga def. American Samoa 22-18 (18 October 2004)
• Samoa def. Tonga 52-18 (23 October 2004)
• Cook Islands def. Tonga 18-10 (19 October 2004)
• Tonga def. Fiji 56-6 (17 October 2004)
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 22-17 (17 October 2004)
• New Zealand Maoris def. Tonga 50-6 (5 October 2002)
• England A def. Tonga 30-18 (16 November 2002)
• Papua New Guinea def. Tonga 30-22 (6 November 2000)
• France def. Tonga 28-8 (1 November 2000)
• Tonga def. South Africa (28 October 2000)
• Fiji def. Tonga 10-6 (3 June 2000)
• Tonga def. Fiji 23-20 (27 May 2000)
• New Zealand def. Tonga 74-0 (27 October 1999)
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 34-4 (1999)
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 28-13 (1999)
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 42-2 (1999)
• Tonga def. Tokelau 18-4 (1998)
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 16-8 (1998)
• Tonga drew with Samoa 20-20 (1998)
• Tonga def. American Samoa 18-16 (1998)
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 30-22 (1998)
• Papua New Guinea def. Tonga 44-28 (1998)
• New Zealand Maoris def. Tonga 23-12 (1998)
• Tonga def. Samoa 24-8 (1998)
• Papua New Guinea def. Tonga 54-12 (1998)
• Fiji def. Tonga 22-14 (1998)
• Tonga def. Samoa 24-22 (1998)
• Tonga drew with Fiji 14-14 (1997)
• Tonga drew with Fiji 22-22 (1997)
• New Zealand Maoris def. Tonga 46-10 (1997)
• New Zealand Maoris def. Tonga 28-18 (1996)
• Papua New Guinea def. Tonga 56-16 (1996)
• Tonga def. Western Samoa 22-17 (1996)
• Tonga drew with Papua New Guinea 28-28 (1995)
• New Zealand def. Tonga 25-24 (1995)
• Western Samoa def. Tonga 18-14 (31 October 1992)
• Tonga def. New Zealand Maoris 18-6 (28 October 1992)
• Tonga def. Fiji 23-20 (1992)
• Tonga def. Cook Islands 26-6 (1992)
• Western Samoa def. Tonga 20-12 (1992)
• Tonga def. Niue 24-8 (1992)
• New Zealand Maoris def. Tonga 32-10 (1990)
• Tonga def. American Samoa 38-14 (1988)
• New Zealand Maoris def. Tonga 42-16 (1988)
• Western Samoa def. Tonga 40-30 (1988)

[edit] See also

• Rugby league in Tonga

[edit] External links

• Google-Video