Junior All Blacks captain Tom Donnelly admitted he was a relieved man after his side was able to shrug off a strong Tongan challenge 47-25 in their final Pacific Nations Cup fixture this afternoon at the TFL Stadium.
The JABs were handed the PNC trophy after the match but not without some bruises and a scare from the Tongans.
Tonga, though going into the match as underdogs pressured the JABs into mistakes after mistakes – something that none of their other four opponents in the PNC were able to do.
“They shook us and took us by surprise from the first contact at kick off,” Donnelly said.
Tonga drew first blood from Emosi Kauhenga five minutes into the game and continued to maintain their lead when captain Pierre Hola found the goal mouth with a penalty.
“After their 10-0 lead we knew we had to settle and calm ourselves down,” Donnelly said.
“The boys were told to take it easy with the ball, breathe and stick to the game plan.”
Sione Lauaki scored JABs first try that was unsuccessfully converted before Hosea Gear took their score to 12 points with another try in 28th minute of play.
Hola kicked a successful penalty for Tonga and a try to Teumuli Kaufusi saw them lead at halftime 20-12.
“There were a lot of things we did wrong, we did not stick to the game plan a couple of times and strayed – mainly because the Tonga team was pushing us into making mistakes,” Donnelly said.
Second half belonged solely to the JABs with tries to Rene Ranger, Lauaki, Jason McDonald and Colin Slade.
Tonga only managed a try from Mateo Malupo.
“Tonga was a worthy opponent; they kept coming at us with all they had. At times we saw fatigue come in but they just kept going with the fighting spirit in them,” Ian Foster, JABs coach said.
“This was a great last game with a great team – Tonga should be proud of their boys and how strong they performed this afternoon.”
One more game remains in the PNC between Fiji and Japan tomorrow at 3:10pm at the TFL Stadium. Tomorrows result will see who will take second place in the overall tournament standing.
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