The first round of games at the Rugby League World Cup is over and what a round it was for the Tongans. They showed a huge amount of courage and passion to overcome the third in the world ranked Welsh team. It was a close game with the final scoreline being 24-22.

The game was 4 tries a peice and it ended up being the superior boot of Lee Hansen who shot 4 from 4 goals that won the game for the Tongan's. Five-Eighth Willie Wolfgramm was picked by Coach Andrew Young as the Tongan's man of the match crossing for 2 tries and directing the backline. His brother Greg was also on the try scorers list as was centre Lesley Vainakolo.

Coach Andrew Young who had been taking time off coaching his premier league side the Perth Taipans took up the role as Tongan coach earlier in the year and has shown what these mighty Tongan's can do.

"There passion and courage is unmatched by any of the other teams out there. They were huge underdogs going into last nights match and they proved everyone wrong by beating a team that is ranked 3rd in the world"

Tonga have a bye in round 2 and then go on to play AA/TSI at Westpac Trust Stadium in Round 3. They will go into the match with plenty of confidence following there win last night and will push the Aborigine and Torres Strait Islanders to the limit in what is set to be a fantastic game.

The captain of the Tongans, Jim Dymock said in the post match interview, "The boys are over the moon at the result tonight and we will be celebrating all night as I'm sure they are back home in Tonga. We played well and will be training hard during the bye week in preperation for a tough game against AA/TSI"

Mike Hunt
Tonga National News.