Tonga pack to average over 19 stone a man against England
Tonga will field a near one tonne pack against the might of Eddie Jones’ England. Bristol centre Siale Piutau will lead Tonga in Sunday’s World Cup opener against England in Sapporo.
Piutau is one of seven players in the Pacific Islanders’ starting XV who has experience of playing in England and among four who competed in the Gallagher Premiership last season.
Bath centre Cooper Vuna is present as is Racing 92 prop Ben Tameifuna, who last year weighed in at a colossal 153kg to make him the heaviest player in Test rugby.
The total weight of pack comes in at a 974kg, an average of just under 122kg a man.
Leicester full-back Telusa Veainu and London Irish lock Steve Mafi have been ruled out by respective foot and shoulder problems.
Coming soon to RugbyPass…
?? We travelled behind the scenes with the Tonga National team as they prepare for their 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign. pic.twitter.com/y9L89wTqtZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 5, 2019
“Eddie Jones prepares his teams really well. This is a massive challenge for us, but we have nothing to lose and I think England are under more pressure than us,” head coach Toutai Kefu said.
“He’s picked a very strong team, but is there a weak England team? I don’t think there is with this squad.”
Tonga: D Halaifonua; A Pakalani, S Piutau, C Vuna, V Lolohea; K Morath, S Takulua; S Fisiihoi, S Sakalia, B Tameifuna, S Lousi, H Fifita, S Kalamafoni, Z Kapeli, M Vaipulu.
Replacements: S Maile, L Talakai, M Fia, D Faleafa, N Mau, L Fukofuka, J Faiva, N Tu’itavake.
– PA, additional reporting by RugbyPass
On the eve of the RWC in Japan, England great Neil Back sits down with RugbyPass’ Jim Hamilton to recount his Rugby World Cup Memories.
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Agree with the bulk - but the Baa-Baas thing works both ways. Teams obviously do a mass of analysis into how their opposition plays nowadays. With them, it's borderline impossible. It's almost a leveller. You're right in that the bar is pathetically low now and that Farrell should be the starting fly-half. It's a waste of his talent in the position. Akin to faffing around with Sexton playing centre for several years - something which would never happen. I do think without the mass of injuries we had in the run-up to Scotland, Borthwick would've played Farrell at 10. So to sum up - I agree with the bulk - but I think Borthwick will fix this. He's a competent coach.
Go to commentsDoes anyone know if Fozzie actually wants to coach the ABs past the World Cup? Feels like an important detail amidst all this speculation about how he might or might not be taking things.
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