Tonga returns to Sevens Series with two wins in Hamilton [1]
Monday, January 28, 2019 - 17:52. Updated on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 - 09:32.
Tonga managed to win two games in its first outing this year in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Hamilton on the weekend, after being absent from the circuit since 2014.
The two wins came on Day 2 when they beat France 33-10 and Japan 31-7 to claim 13th place overall out of 16 teams taking part in the tournament.
However, on Day 1 they lost to USA 29-7, England 36-7, and Samoa 28-12.
On Day 2 they took part in the Challenge Trophy (for the bottom two teams in each pool) but were beaten by Kenya 19-12 who advanced to the final losing to the trophy winner, England 36-7.
Fiji were crowned winners of the Hamilton Sevens with USA finishing second and New Zealand in third place.
Tonga now enters the overall sevens series world standings [2] in 16th place with 3 points while Zimbabwe is last in 17th place with 2 points. Fiji and USA share first spot with 57 points each.
The next sevens game [3] will take place in Sydney this weekend 2-3 February. Tonga is up against South Africa, Australia, and Argentina in Pool D.