Tonga name nine debutants in starting team to take on All Blacks
Tonga have named nine debutants in their starting side to face the All Blacks at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland on Saturday.
With a further four uncapped players on the bench, ‘Ikale Tahi head coach Toutai Kefu has named a vastly inexperienced team to play in their first test match since the 2019 World Cup.
Of the new caps in the starting lineup, six have been named in the forward pack, with the only capped players being veteran tighthead prop Sila Puafisi and Chiefs flanker Zane Kapeli, who will start at lock.
Joining Puafisi in the front row are loosehead prop Duke Nginingini, who plays for Karaka in the Counties Manukau club competition and made the last of his four NPC appearances for Waikato in 2017, and Tasman hooker Sam Moli, the younger brother of four-test All Blacks prop Atu.
In the second row, Kapeli will be partnered by Don Lolo, who plays for Taieri in the Dunedin club competition and hasn’t played first-class rugby since his Heartland Championship days with North Otago and South Canterbury four years ago.
The loose forwards are made up entirely of uncapped players, with blindside flanker Mateaki Kafatolu the most experienced of the back row trio after four seasons with Wellington and a brief spell with the Sunwolves last year.
He will be joined by Hawke’s Bay openside flanker Solomone Funaki, who served as injury cover for the Highlanders this year, and Auckland utility forward Sione Tuipulotu.
With only three debutants, the backline, spearheaded by captain and Toulon halfback Sonatane Takulua, offers a bit more experience.
Takulua, who paid for his own way to New Zealand from France at the end of the Top 14 season, will be paired in the halves by nine-test Counties Manukau utility back Kalione Hala.
Two rookies will make up the midfield combo as Counties Manukau’s Nikolai Foliaki and North Harbour’s Fine Inisi will make their test debuts from the No. 12 and No. 13 jerseys, respectively.
The outside backs, meanwhile, will feature just one debutant, with prolific former Sunwolves winger Hosea Saumaki, who now plays for the Canon Eagles in the Top League, set for his long-awaited test debut on the right wing.
Saumaki will be joined in the back three by Southland and former New Zealand U20 wing Penikolo Latu and Italian-based first-five-turned-fullback James Faiva.
A pair of former All Blacks greats, as well as an ex-Black Fern, have revealed who they believe should start for New Zealand in their first test this weekend. #AllBlacks #NZLvTGA https://t.co/pkjvMjtyUC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 30, 2021
On the pine, former Waikato and New Zealand U20 prop Tau Koloamatangi is one of the three reserve front rowers, as is three-test Manawatu hooker Siua Maile and ex-Reds prop Jethro Felemi, who now plays for GPS in the Queensland club competition.
27-year-old lock Harrison Mataele, who is a personal trainer by trade and only started playing for Grammar TEC in Auckland’s club competition last year after quitting rugby due to injuries, has also been named on the bench for his test debut.
Viliame Taulani, who made his debut for the Chiefs this year after being called into the squad as injury cover, is also in line for his first appearance for Tonga after being named as one of two loose forward reserves.
The other is former Highlanders, Crusaders, Edinburgh and Benetton Treviso stalwart Nasi Manu, who will act as one of the most experienced players in the match day side.
The inclusion of both Taulani and Manu means Kefu has opted for just two backline reserves, one of which is ex-Crusaders and New Zealand U20 halfback Leon Fukofuka, who now plays for the Hunter Wildfires in Sydney’s Shute Shield club competition.
The other backline reserve is uncapped wing Walter Fifita, who made his first three first-class appearances for North Harbour during last year’s NPC.
The All Blacks will name their side to face ‘Ikale Tahi on Thursday, with the match scheduled to kick-off at 7:05pm Saturday NZT.
‘Ikale Tahi team to play All Blacks on Saturday
1. Duke Nginingini*
2. Sam Moli*
3. Sila Puafisi
4. Don Lolo*
5. Zane Kapeli
6. Mateaki Kafatolu*
7. Solomone Funaki*
8. Sione Tuipulotu*
9. Sonatane Takulua (c)
10. Kalione Hala
11. Penikolo Latu
12. Nikolai Foliaki*
13. Fine Inisi*
14. Hosea Saumaki*
15. James Faiva
Reserves:
16. Siua Maile
17. Jethro Felemi*
18. Tau Koloamatangi*
19. Harrison Mataele*
20. Viliame Taulani*
21. Nasi Manu
22. Leon Fukofuka
23. Walter Fifita*
* – denotes new cap
Comments on RugbyPass
Bulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to comments