TONGA Defence Services rugby team enters the semifinal at the first International Defence Rugby Cup Competition after beating the New Zealand Defence Force 27-26 in Sydney yesterday, October 13.

The Tonga Defence Team will fly from Australia to New Zealand to play in the semi final against the British Army on October 18 at North Shore.

In the pool games, TDS thrashed the China's People Liberation Army team 59-12 on October 1 in Canberra but went down against the Australian Defence Force team 21-17 on October 5. But with only three teams in their pool both the TDS and the Australian Defence Force entered the quarterfinal.

12 teams

The TDS joins 12 rugby teams from nine countries, including 10 defence force rugby teams and two police rugby teams in four pools.

After the quarter finals this week, the winning four teams will be flown by the Royal Australian Air Force to New Zealand for the semi finals on October 18 at the North Shore Rugby Club.

The final will be held at Auckland University on October 22.

The rugby teams include the Tonga Defence Services, China's People's Liberation Army, Australian Defence Force, Australian Federal Police, England's Royal Navy, Royal Air Force RAF, British Army, Republic of South Africa Defence Force, New Zealand Defence Force, Papua New Guinea Defence Force, French Armed Forces and the Samoa Police.