Photos by António Simões dos Santos

Tonga U20s were narrowly defeated by Canada 13 - 11 on Wednesday May 20, at the World Rugby U20 Trophy tournament in Lisbon, Portugal, when Canada took the game from Tonga with a heart-breaking last minute field goal.

The loss dashes team Tonga’s hopes to enter the finals of the tournament against Georgia. The boys will instead play Uruguay for the third place decider.

Canada scored two unconverted tries in the first half and at half time were leading 10 – 3. Tonga made a gallant comeback in the second-half with one unconverted try scored by Prop forward Vunipola Fifita. At the 63^rd minute, a converted penalty goal by Patelesio ‘One’one put Tonga ahead 11 - 10. At the 79^th minute however, Canada converted a penalty goal to steal the game a minute before the siren.

The Under-20’s rugby trophy is an annual tournament for eight second-tier teams. The teams include Canada, Fiji, Georgia, Hong Kong, Namibia, Portugal, Tonga and Uruguay.

Tonga U20’s defeated their two other pool opponents Japan (35 - 16) and Namibia (45 - 11).