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'He is the most respected individual I've ever seen inside the All Blacks'
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Milton Haig steps into coaching role as Tonga sense 'fantastic opportunity'
By Jon Newcombe
A 30-strong Tongan squad, representing 20 clubs and seven different countries, has been busy making up for lost time as they look to add the final nail in the coffin of Scotland’s Quilter Nations Series with a first-ever victory at Murrayfield.
Other than a training match against Emerging Scotland in Glasgow on Monday, Tonga haven’t played together since they finished third at the Asahi Super Dry Pacific Nations Cup, their best performance in the cross-continental competition for a number of years.
“If you look at it, it is a bit of a one-off. We haven’t had a massive amount of prep but I know every single person that put their hands up for this was pretty excited. Because it is such a short campaign you don’t have to look after your body too much, it is just a matter of getting in there and away you go,” said Tonga’s manager Milton Haig.
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“From a management point of view, we see this as a fantastic opportunity because we are playing a tier one team, in an iconic stadium, so that in itself is a special occasion.
“Tevita, the head coach, has said to the boys, ‘we are here, we have to have got to make sure we represent ourselves, our country and friends and family with pride.’ I have no doubt that will happen on Sunday, regardless of the result.”
Tonga’s only victory over Scotland, a 21-15 win in 2012, came at Pittodrie in Aberdeen, not at the home of Scottish rugby.
Several of the PNC squad are missing from the one that has made the trip to Edinburgh, with star players like former All Blacks Salesi Piutau and Malakai Fekitoa unavailable for this one-off Test.
Having played in the PNC, Piutau has opted to stay with his Japanese club Shimizu Blue Sharks this time around, while explosive centre Fekitoa is currently serving a three-match suspension for a no-arms tackle, next door to Murrayfield, in Benetton’s 43-0 defeat away to Edinburgh in the URC.
However, they can call on the huge presence of captain and prop, Ben Tameifuna, plus wily old campaigner, Sonatane Takalua, at scrum-half, amongst others.
They are also benefitting from the backs coaching of Haig, who has stepped into a hands-on role, rather than focus solely on managerial duties, because of the Blues’ refusal to release their head coach, Daniel Halungahu for the Scotland match.
Haig has been with Tonga for the last 18 months, as a World Rugby High Performance consultant. But the Ikale ‘Tahi were well aware of him before then, with the New Zealander leading Georgia to a famous victory over the Islanders at Rugby World Cup 2015.
He has known players like scrum-half Augustine Pulu for the best part of 15 years, having coached the scrum-half when he was still a schoolboy in the Counties Manakau academy.
“Life always throws up little mysteries, especially if you are a professional coach. Through my job as a High Performance consultant for World Rugby, I have had this opportunity to work with Tonga for 18 months, and when the head coach asked if I could be attack coach as well as manager, I said, of course I can.
“I feel honoured. Tonga has always had a special place in my heart, not only because of what happened in 2015 at Kingsholm, but also because I used to coach a lot of Pasifika boys, Tongan boys in teams that I coached in New Zealand.
“To do some coaching for them, I am loving it. Once you are a coach, you are always a coach. It is very hard to give that up, coaching is in your blood really.”
Half-a-dozen of the Tongan squad play for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby Pacific, but the others are spread across the world – in six countries outside of New Zealand, including Tonga itself, Australia, France England, Wales and Italy.
