Rugby union is the national sport of

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. Tonga are considered to be a tier 2 rugby nation by the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

has four main rugby playing islands, Vava'u (which produced players like

Epi Taione Epi Taione (born 2 March 1979) is a former Tongan rugby union footballer whose last club was London Welsh. He normally played at centre but could cover the wing or back row. Rugby career He started his professional career at Newcastle Falcons. ...

), Ha'apai (which produced players like

Jonah Lomu Jonah Tali Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is considered to have been the first true global superstar of rugby, and consequently had a huge impact on the game. He is widely regarde ...

ʻEua Eua is an island in the kingdom of Tonga. It is close to Tongatapu, but forms a separate administrative division. It has an area of , and a population in 2021 of 4,903 people. Geography Eua is a hilly island, the highest peaks are the ''Teemo ...

(which produced the Vunipola family, eight brothers who all played for the national team), and

Tongatapu Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the nation ...

the major island in the

island group.

Governing body

Rugby union is governed by the

Tonga Rugby Union The Tonga Rugby Union is the governing body of the sport of rugby union in Tonga. They are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Samoa. There is a rugby union playing population of fewer than 800 out of a total p ...

Bath, p75 who are also members of the

Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance The Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) was set up in 2002 as a basis of co-operation between the Fiji, Samoa and Tonga Rugby Unions. Niue and the Cook Islands also became members of the Alliance and supplied players to the Pacific Islanders ...

. Tonga were awarded 'second tier' status by the

which entitles them to funding from the IRB. The TRFU was founded in 1923, and joined the IRB, in 1987.

History

Rugby union was brought to the region in the early 20th century by sailors and missionaries. The main impetus for the establishment of rugby in Tonga came from the Irish missionaries in the 1920s, who introduced it to

Tupou College Tupou College is a Methodist boys' secondary boarding school in Toloa on the island of Tongatapu, Tonga. It is located on the Eastern District of Tongatapu near the village of Malapo. The school is owned by the Free Weslyan Church of Tonga. Estab ...

and Tonga College. Since then, the main influence has been from New Zealand,Bath, p76 as well as the neighbouring Pacific Islands of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...

, which not unlike Tonga perform far beyond their small population bases. Like Fiji and Samoa, they have a strong tendency towards rugby sevens, which suits their population and geography, and have performed well at the Hong Kong tournament. The New Zealand connection, as for Samoa, has been a mixed blessing, since on the one hand it means that Tongans can play in a major field, but on the other hand, winning a cap for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

is a major ambition for many Tongans. Notable Tongan players include: *

Viliami Ofahengaue Viliami Ofahengaue (born 3 May 1968 in Kolofoou, Tonga), widely known as Willie O, is a former rugby union player who earned 41 caps for the Australian Wallabies from 1990 to 1998, and played in the World Cups of 1991 and 1995 as well as the 19 ...

, who played for Australia, Tongan born.

Popularity

Rugby union is the national sport of

and as in the rest of

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

is a way of life. Though Tongans are passionate rugby followers and players, their small population base means that much like its Pacific Island neighbours,

and

, Tonga has a limited yet talented player pool, and sometimes struggles with the resources and numbers of larger nations. Young talent often emigrates to or is poached by countries which offer greater prospects of individual success such as New Zealand, Australia and Europe. Nevertheless, all three countries perform far beyond their population base size. The

(IRB) estimates that Tonga has a total of 800 registered senior players and twice as many juniors. Rugby is popular in the nation's schools and students from schools such as Tonga College and

, are regularly offered scholarships from New Zealand, Australia and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Many players of Tongan descent e.g.

, Israel Folau, Viliami "William" ʻOfahengaue,

Malakai Fekitoa Malakai Fonokalafi Fekitoa (born 10 May 1992) is a Tongan rugby union player who plays as a centre. He currently plays for Irish club Munster. He previously played for the Highlanders in the Super Rugby competition, in the ITM Cup, and for Ne ...

Ben Afeaki Ben Tu'umoe Paul Afeaki (born 12 January 1988) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer. His regular playing position was prop. He represented the Chiefs in Super Rugby and North Harbour in the ITM Cup between 2010 and 2014 and also mad ...

Charles Piutau Salesi Tu'ipulotu "Charles" Piutau (born 31 October 1991) is a New Zealand rugby union player. He plays in the fullback (and occasionally wing) position for England club Bristol Bears in the Premiership, and formerly for New Zealand's national ...

Frank Halai Frank Halai (born 6 March 1988) is a Tongan rugby union player who plays as a winger for the Austin Gilgronis in Major League Rugby (MLR). He previously played for Pau in the Top 14. and for Counties Manukau in the ITM Cup, and before that W ...

Sekope Kepu Sekope Kepu (born 5 February 1986) is an Australian professional rugby union player. He is a prop and currently plays for Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. He has previously played for Australian club New South Wales Waratahs, the French club Bordea ...

, George Smith,

Wycliff Palu Wycliff Palu (born 27 July 1982), known as Cliffy Palu, is an Australian former professional rugby union footballer of Tongan descent. He played for the New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby and represented in 58 tests. Early life Palu was ...

Sitaleki Timani Sitaleki Timani (born 19 September 1986), is a Tongan-born, Australian professional rugby union footballer. He made his test debut for the Wallabies in 2011. His usual position is lock. Timani's professional club career spanned eight seasons of ...

Salesi Ma'afu Salesi Ma'afu, (born 26 March 1983 in Camperdown, Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer. Early life Ma'afu was educated at Granville and Ashfield Boys High Schools in Sydney and played rugby league as ...

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

and Saia Faingaa,

Mark Gerrard Mark Gerrard (born 4 September 1982) is a former Australian professional rugby union footballer. He currently is the assistant coach for the Austin Gilgronis in Major League Rugby (MLR) competition in the United States. In 2011, he was one of ...

, Cooper Vuna,

Doug Howlett Douglas Charles Howlett (born 21 September 1978) is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player. He was primarily a wing, but he also sometimes played as a fullback. He played for Auckland, and the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Blues ...

Toutai Kefu Toutai Kefu (born 8 April 1974) is a Tonga-born rugby coach, who earned 60 caps playing at number eight for the Australian national team (the Wallabies). Kefu is currently the head coach of the Tongan national team having previously coached th ...

and

Tatafu Polota-Nau Sione 'Utukiveisini Tatafu Polota-Nau (born 26 July 1985) is an Australian rugby union player who recently played for Parramatta Two Blues in Australia's Shute Shield. He joined the club in December 2017. Family and early life Polota-Nau was bo ...

have played for either the All Blacks or the Wallabies.

British and Irish Lion The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their nationa ...

and Welsh international player Taulupe "Toby" Faletau is Tongan born and the son of Tongan international Kuli Faletau. Taulupe's cousins and England international players

Billy Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a yo ...

and

Mako Vunipola Mako Vunipola (born 14 January 1991) is a professional rugby union player who plays as a loosehead prop for English club Saracens and the England national team. Born in New Zealand to Tongan parents, he qualified for England through residency ...

(who is also a

), are sons of former Tonga rugby captain Fe'ao Vunipola.

Finau Maka Finau Maka (born 10 July 1977) started his playing career for Auckland Rugby Union and NZ age group teams. He played over 50 games for Auckland NPC Team and the Hurricanes, Blues and Highlanders before leaving to play for the Stade Toulousain club ...

, Telusa Veainu,

Lopeti Timani Lopeti Timani (born 28 September 1990) is a Tongan professional rugby union player. His usual position is second row or number 8. After two seasons with the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby, he signed on to play for the Melbourne Rebels in 2014. H ...

Charles Riechelmann Charles Riechelmann (RICK-le-man, born 26 April 1972) was a Tongan-born New Zealand rugby union player. He played for Auckland provincially, the Blues in the Super Rugby competition the All Blacks at international level as the first ever Tonga ...

and

Pita Alatini Pita Faiva-ki-moana Alatini (born 11 April 1976 in Nukualofa) is a Tongan-born New Zealand rugby union footballer. Alatini is a midfield back who played in 17 tests for the All Blacks between 1999 and 2001, scoring 6 test tries. Alatini playe ...

are also of Tongan descent. The money coming back from Tongan players playing rugby abroad is Tonga's second biggest export after squash.

Women's rugby

The Tonga women's national rugby union team has played only two matches at the

Women's Pacific Tri-Nations The Women's Pacific Tri-Nations tournament was contested in April 2006 at the Teufaiva Park in Nuku’alofa, Tonga. It was the only time the tournament was held. Samoa had been playing international rugby since 2000, and competed in two World ...

. Meanwhile, the Tonga women's national rugby sevens team has played at the 2010 and 2011 Asia-Pacific Championship, the Oceania Women's Sevens Championship since 2012, and the 2015

2015 Pacific Games The 2015 Pacific Games, also known as Port Moresby 2015 or POM 2015, was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, from 4 to 18 July 2015. It was the fifteenth staging of the Pacific Games as well as the third to be hosted in Port Moresby. More tha ...

. In March 2018, the Ministry of Education announced to ban women's rugby in high schools, to "preserve the dignity of Tongan women and hold on to Tongan cultural values", but days later the Prime Minister reversed the decision.

Competitions

Datec Cup Provincial Championship

This is the highest level of domestic competition within

n rugby union and is a stepping stone for local players into international rugby.

Pacific Rugby Cup

The IRB Pacific Rugby Cup started in 2006 and involves representative teams from the three Pacific rugby unions, Tonga along with Samoa and Fiji. Tonga's

Tautahi Gold Tautahi Gold is a former Tongan rugby union team that played in the Pacific Rugby Cup from 2006 to 2010. The other Tongan team in the Cup was Tau'uta Reds. The team's name is from the Tautahi, which was Tonga's traditional Navy Army. Gold was chose ...

team won the tournament in 2008. The aim of the competition is to improve the quality of rugby in the Pacific Islands.

Representative teams

National

The

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

(Ikale Tahi) has performed quite well on the international stage. Tonga beat

9-6 in their first test in 1924 played in the capital Nukualofa. 1973 is arguably the high water mark of Tongan rugby, when they beat Australia 16-11. Tonga has competed in six

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...

s since

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

. Both the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

and

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

s were Tonga's most successful to date, both winning two out of four matches and both in a running chance for the quarter finals. In the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

, Tonga won its first two matches, against the USA 25–15, and

19–15; and came very close to upsetting the eventual winners of the 2007 tournament, the South African

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

, losing 30–25. A loss to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, 36–20 in their last pool game ended their hopes of making the knockout stages. Nevertheless, by picking up third place in their pool games behind South Africa and England, Tonga earned automatic qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. In

Pool A Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

of the

, Tonga beat both

31-18, and the 5th ranked eventual finalist

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

19-14 in the latter pool stages. However, a previous heavy defeat to the

at the tournament's opener (41-10) and a subsequent tight loss to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

(25-20) meant that Tonga lost out to France (who also lost to NZ) for the quarter finals due to 2 bonus points and a points difference of 46. Tonga's best results prior to 2007 came in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, when they beat Ivory Coast 29–11, and

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

when they beat Italy 28–25 (although with only 14 men they lost heavily to England, 101–10). Tonga emerged victoryless in the 1987 and 2003 Rugby World Cups, and did not qualify for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Tonga used to compete in the

Pacific Tri-Nations The Pacific Tri-Nations was the traditional rugby union series between Tonga, Fiji and Samoa. It was established in 1982 with the Samoan team, then known as Western Samoa, winning the tournament. In 2006 it was replaced by the IRB Pacific 5 Nation ...

against Samoa and Fiji, which has now been replaced by the

IRB Pacific Nations Cup The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament will also include the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held ...

, which now also involves

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. At club level, there are the

Datec Cup Provincial Championship The Datec Cup Provincial Championship is the highest level of rugby union football competition within Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The ...

and the

Pacific Rugby Cup The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams (formed from the best locally based players, with most not alre ...

. Rugby union is governed by the Tonga Rugby Football Union, which was also a member of the

, and contributed to the

Pacific Islanders rugby union team The Pacific Islanders was a combined international rugby union team that played from 2004 to 2008. It represented Fiji, Samoa and Tonga; Niue and the Cook Islands also supplied players to the squad for their tour in 2004. The team did not play at R ...

, before both were disbanded in 2009. Tonga performs the Kailao (Sipi Tau) before its matches.

Pacific Tri-Nations

The Pacific Tri-Nations was a series between

and

. It had been played from 1982 to 2006.

IRB Pacific Nations Cup

The IRB Pacific Nations Cup (formerly the Pacific 5 Nations, Pacific Tri-Nations) is a competition held between six

Pacific rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The '' Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire. List of ...

sides;