Tonga’s defence force rugby team, the Ngaahau Koula, will join nine countries in the International Defence Rugby Competition (IRDC [2]) held in Tokyo, Japan from 11-24 September 2019.

The team includes players from various units of His Majesty’s Armed Forces (HMAF) such as the Tonga Royal Guards, Land Forces, Tonga Navy and Support Unit.

Since 2006, defence forces from around the world come together every four years to compete for the rights to the title of the best military rugby union team.   

Coach, Warrant Officer Class One Simione Maka, said they have been preparing well for the competition since July.

“We are in the same pool as Australia and New Zealand. We will start playing on the 11^th against Australia.”

Ngahau Koula’s involvement over the years in the IRDC is due to the support of local sponsors EM Jones Limited, Cost-Low and ROYCO Amalgamated, Pacific Timber Hardware, MBF Bank, Luna’eva Enterprise, TCC, US Mini-Mart, MBF Bank, Siomai Green, Waterfront Restaurant, Kingdom Travel, Spareparts Zone, Simipata Store, Five-Star finance and Puloka Construction.

The Ngahau Koula consists of 36 members which includes six officials. The team is coached by Warrant Officer Class One Simione Maka and Mr Ben Hur Kivalu, and trained by Sikei Latu.

The team departs on Saturday 7 September with support of the New Zealand Defence on Royal New Zealand Air Force flight. They will be traveling with the New Zealand Defence Force and the Royal Fiji Military Forces rugby teams. Lodging and transport is provided by the Japanese Self Defence Force.

Countries taking part in the IRDC include Japan, UK, Australia, Korea, Georgia, Tonga, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and France.