Tonga's women debutants, Rugby Leage 9s team ended their Pacific Game's journey with a silver medal, after a defeat to Cook Islands 8-16 last night, 22 November.
Tonga had a disastrous start, with two players on the ground injured in the first half just 5 metres out from the Cook Islands try line.
The Cooks capitalised, scoring two tries in quick succession.
Tonga managed to stop a third try at the end of the first half, but early in the second, Cook Islands slipped through their defence to notch up another.
Lavinia Tauhalaliku revived Tonga's hopes in the fourth minute of the second half with a try of her own after coming on after injury, but Cook Islands hit back quickly.
Tonga then put another on the board in the dying minutes of the match, but it wasn't enough.
Cook Islands prop Ngatokotoru Arakua said she was "overwhelmed" at the result.
"I'm over the moon ... honestly, the journey we had to go through just to get here pretty much showed that it was worth it. It was all in God's plan," she said.
However, the team's spirit remains undeafeated as they are still hyped over receiving a silver medal. The team's head coach, Monica Henry told Matangi Tonga that the team is still "buzzing" from winning the silver medal.
"We were praying for a Gold medal but never the less, 5 wins from 6 games for our very first South Pacific Games is an honour for ourselves, our families and Tonga."
The team will return to Tonga on Saturday, 25 November.
