RUGBY LEAGUE NATION

 

 

Foundation Year - 1988

International Team - Mate Ma'a Tonga

Highest finish in World Cup - Ranked 7th (2008)

Top level domestic competition - 12 teams compete in the national competition.

History - Tonga have 9 teams in the top division and 12 teams in division two.

Tonga's close proximity to Australia and New Zealand and the increase of Tongan's playing in the Super League and National Rugby League has been a main factor in the growth of league in the pacific nation. Tonga's first involvement in rugby league at an international level was via the Pacific Cup competition in 1988.

Tonga also participated in the 1992 Pacific Cup competition. An indication of the ongoing growth of rugby league in Tonga, the national team made it to the Pacific Cup Final. Playing against their pacific rivals Western Samoa, the Tongan's came close to upsetting the favourites but eventually were defeated 18 - 14

In 1995 Tonga took part in the Rugby League World Cup for the first time. In a classic game Tonga nearly knocked New Zealand out of the tournament only to go down by one point at full time. In their other game against Papua New Guinea, Tonga built up a good lead only to let it slip away in the 2nd half coming out of the game with a draw. This proved costly for Tonga as they just missed out on advancing to the semi finals.

Tonga also participated in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Tonga performed poorly losing Pool games against France and Papua New Guinea. Tonga finished 3rd in their Pool only managing a win against South Africa and missed out on a quarter finals birth.

2006 was a big year for Tonga as they took part in the World Cup Qualifiers and the Federation Shield. Tonga beat Cook Islands and Samoa to qualify for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup and finishing top of the pacific pool. Tonga also made it to the final of the Federation Shield going down to England 32 -14.

Tonga were favourites along with France and Samoa to make it to the semi final of the 2008 World Cup. They started well beating Ireland in their first pool game 22 - 20. The second match-up against Samoa saw Tonga go down in one of the matches of the tournament 20 -12. This loss cost Tonga a place in the qualifying semi-final leaving them to play a ranking game against Scotland. In the ranking game Tonga were never troubled and ran away with the game 48 - 0 securing 7th place in the World Cup rankings.

Tonga have tabled a proposal to have an annual pacific type competition involving an Australia A team. Insisting that the Involvement of an Australian A team would be crucial to the ongoing success of the tournament. On the back of the success of the Tonga v Samoa game many are calling for the teams to play each other yearly at Penrith's CUA Stadium.

In early 2009 Tonga were ranked 8th in World seedings by the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF).

The Rugby League International Federation announced that a Pacific Cup competition was starting up in 2009. This was in line with the RLIF's plans to provide more international games for 2nd tier rugby league nations. Unlike the old pacific cup competitions, much is at stake in the Pacific Cup tournament as the winner will qualify for the Four Nations. Tonga's 2009 Pacific Cup campaign got of to a bad start when they were defeated by Papua New Guinea 44 - 14 in the first weekend of the competition. The following weekend they were defeated by Fiji for the 3rd place play-off and finished the tournament with the wooden spoon.

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