From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 14, no. 2, May 1999.

Thanks to what Rugby officials describe as a miracle, Tonga has finally qualified to participate in the 1999 Rugby World Cup after defeating South Korea 82–15 in Seoul on May 4.

It has been an up-hill battle for Tonga, but since a group of expert coaches from South Africa arrived suddenly this year the team has surged ahead.

The ‘Ikale Tahi’s performance in 1995 was not very impressive. The team lost 38–10 to France, and 41–5 to Scotland, but they beat the Ivory Coast 29–11 in their final appearance in the tournament.

For Tonga to qualify for the 1999 World Cup the ‘Ikale Tahi had to beat either Australia, Fiji or Samoa in their qualifying matches in Australia last year, but unfortunately it lost all three matches. The one last chance for the ‘Ikale Tahi, was to win its matches during the repechage qualifying tournament which began in March.

If you believe in miracles, then that is exactly what happened to Tongan rugby, according to Satua Tu‘akoi the Secretary of the Tonga Rugby Union. She said that out of the blue a group of South African experts from the Falcons Club in Transvaal offered to help Tonga qualify for the World Cup. They had developed a technique and a method of coaching that they wanted to show off to the world, and they had watched tapes of Tongan matches and believed that their technique and coaching method would be suitable for the Tongan style of playing.

“The offer was almost too good to be true, because we are not paying anything to the South Africans,” said Satua. The South Africans visited Tonga and Phil Pretorius, the coach for the Falcons, became the coaching adviser for Tonga while it was preparing for its first game of the repechage tournament against the Republic of Georgia on March 6. Since then he has been directly involved in the coaching and the selection of the Tongan team.

Turn around

Phil Pretorious said that they liked working with the “underdog” and their two immediate goals were for Tonga to qualify for the World Cup, and then to take the ‘Ikale Tahi up to the semi-final.

After the new coaching method began, Tonga beat the Republic of Georgia 37–6 in Nuku‘alofa, but they lost 28–27 to Georgia in Tbilisi. Tonga scored more tries and therefore qualified to proceed and play South Korea. The ‘Ikale Tahi beat the Koreans 58–26 in Nuku‘alofa, and 82–15 in Korea.

However, Tonga has not been able to find the ways and means to select a national team from the best of its overseas and local players, due a lack of management skills and financial resources.

Nightmare

Satua said that the manner of selecting a team was something like a nightmare, “because we just can’t get the names of the team finalised until the very last minute. Like this game in Seoul, Siua Taumalolo was all set to come, but at the very last minute his club wrote and pleaded that they had lost three matches in a row… and they just could not afford to release Siua.”

Satua said that under the rules and regulations of the International Rugby Board players should be released to play for their national teams and in a situation like this it had been tempting to raise the matter with the IRB, “but we can’t for a number of reasons. We have to consider the situation of our players, they are worried that they may lose their contracts, and their incomes.”

She said that one of the problems was because players were signing contracts without the knowledge of the TRU. These problems made selection hectic, “the player can’t be away from his club for more than two weeks, because it might mean that he will loose his pay, and at the same time the TRU can’t reimburse the player.” This is the most difficult situation for a Tongan coach because he wanted to spend a bit more time with his players instead of meeting only two days before an international match. “So much money is required to bring overseas players here and then send them back.” But Satua was thankful to the Manager of the Polynesian Airlines, Paul Karalus, for his advice and assistance in bringing the players to Tonga and to other countries where they played.

Satua represented Tonga at the Fourth General meeting of the International Rugby Board at Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the end of April. She said that points stressed at the meeting were for more national and regional competitions, and to remember that all players, “disregarding whoever they play for, are ambassadors for rugby.”

Satua said that the Pacific Rim Tournament, involving Japan, USA, Canada, Fiji, and Samoa would start at the beginning of May. Tonga was to play Japan on May 9 in Japan; the USA in the West Coast on May 15; the Manu Samoa on June 5 in Apia, then Fiji in Nuku‘alofa on June 26, and Canada in Nuku’alofa on July 3.

Since the beginning of the Pacific Rim Tournament Tonga lost to Japan 44-17 and to the USA 30-10.