Photos by Pesi Fonua

Kolomotu'a Eagles won the Tongatapu 2021 Rugby Clubs Championship, beating  Toloa Old Boys 18-17 at  Teufaiva Stadium, Nuku'alofa, on Saturday, 27 August.

It was a tight game, and in the final minute Toloa Old Boys was leading 17-15, but a penalty conversion at full time gave Kolomotu’a Eagles the victory.

The Kolomotu’a Eagles last won the Tongatapu Rugby Clubs Championship in 1996.

Toloa Old Boys was the Tongatapu Rugby Clubs Champion in 2015 and from 2017 to 2020.

Saturday's final was a competitive match, with the Toloa Old Boys scoring the only try of the game, but the Kolomotu’a Eagles won with penalty conversions.

The curtain raiser for the Tongatapu 2021 Rugby Club Championship on Saturday, was a womens seven-a-side game between the Kolomotu’a and Hihifo women. Hihifo won 24-5.

100 Years of Tongan Club Rugby

The 2021 Tongatapu Rugby Clubs Championship is part of a National Championship to mark the 100 years of the national rugby championships in Tonga, which began in 1921.

Siaosi Faka'osi,  Secretary for the Tongatapu Rugby Sub-Union Executive Committee said that the Tonga Rugby Union will be hosting a national tournament to mark the 100^th anniversary of Club Rugby in Tonga with representative teams from the Niuas, Vava’u, Ha’apai, ‘Eua, and Tongatapu, to kick off on September 17.

Tongatapu, with its bigger population compared to the outer islands, will have club representatives from the Vahe Hihifo, Vahe Hahake, Vahe Kolo and Vahe Loto.

Siaosi said that on Saturday the 28 male teams and six women teams that participated in the competition, shared prizes of over $60,000 donated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Talitha Project.