Tonga bring in the heavyweights as nine changes made for England
Tonga have reinforced their team for Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series clash with England by calling up players from the Gallagher Premiership and Top 14. The Pacific Islanders were overrun 60-14 by Scotland at Murrayfield but as that match fell outside the international window, they were unable to pick some of their more established names.
Having announced nine chances to the Tonga XV that will start at Twickenham, French clubs are most heavily represented in the pack where starts are given to Bordeaux prop Ben Tameifuna, Toulon flanker Lopeti Timani, Grenoble lock Tanginoa Halaifonua, Agen hooker Paula Ngauamo and Pau prop Sigfried Fisi’ihoi.
In the backs, Stade Francais full-back Telusa Veainu, Toulon scrum-half Sonatane Takulua and Bayonne centre Mailetoa Hingano are picked to take on Eddie Jones’ men. Takulua captains the side while Worcester No8 Sione Vailanu is also present.
TONGA (vs England): T Veainu; W Fifita, M Hingano, A Taumoepeau, S Kata; Kurt Morath, S Takulua (capt); S Fisi’ihoi, P Ngauamo, B Tameifuna, H Fifita, T Halaifonua, L Timani, M Kafatolu, S Vailanu. Reps: S Maile, L Uhila, M Fia, S Funaki, O Havili, L Fukofuka, J Faiva, V Fine.
'Leicester did what was right for them in terms of the pandemic and I was doing what I needed to do for my family'@tveainu was on the brink of quitting rugby when he signed for @LeicesterTigers & he'll never forget his time there, writes @heagneyl ???https://t.co/HDkLPMjsPy
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 3, 2021
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Next weekend is the de facto championship match. Ireland vs France. Shame it's happening round 2 rather than 4 or 5 but it is what it is. I think this is Ireland's to lose.
Go to commentsAsking the TMO for a compelling reason to overturn the on-field decision should be universal for all TMO involvements, and reinforced by the ref on every referral. TMO questions like "try or no try" should be phased out. Let's move to the idea of good and bad judgement, from the idea of right and wrong decisions. The TMO is there to help in cases where footage provides a compelling and rapid improvement to the refs assessment.
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