Tonga score extraordinary upset

Tonga have made a habit of making history — but it doesn’t get any bigger than this.

The Pacific Island national pulled off the biggest upset in international rugby league history last night, becoming the first tier-two country to knock over Australia with a stunning 16-12 victory at Eden Park.

After trailing 12-6 at halftime, Tonga roared back with tries to Michael Jennings and Tevita Pangai, and repelled the Kangaroos with punishing defence to send the vast majority of the 25,275 crowd into ecstasy.

Tonga hit the lead with 25 minutes to go and while the game finished with them desperately defending their line, the world champions generally didn’t have an answer to Tonga’s aggressive line speed.

They forced Australia into several uncharacteristic mistakes during the final quarter and on the back of their all-star forward back, had little trouble working out of their own half.

The result completed the set of victories for Tonga over the ‘Big Three’ nations. Two years ago the Kristian Woolf-coached outfit announced themselves as a genuine force with a stirring comeback win against the Kiwis at the World Cup.

But even after holding off Great Britain 14-6 last weekend, victory over the mighty Kangaroos, who have dominated the sport since anyone can remember, seemed a bridge too far.

With strike power right across the park, the general consensus was that Australia would only improve on last week’s comprehensive win over the Kiwis, and the bookies had Tonga as massive $6.20 underdogs.

But the people that mattered, the 17 players in red jerseys, knew exactly that what they were capable of.

Tonga were full of belief and played without fear as they had the Kangaroos rattled in the opening quarter.

Australia failed to take the kick-off on the full, conceded an unnecessary penalty to let the Tongans out of their half and were out of sync on attack during their early forays into the opposition red zone.

Then in the 21st-minute they were forced to play from behind when, after a repeat set, Will Hopoate caught them napping around the ruck to sneak over from dummy-half under the posts. Once the Aussies settled into their rhythm, though, they showed just how dangerous they could be.

A fortuitous charge down followed by penalty put them hot on attack. And in the space of just three minutes, back-to-back tries to Jack Wighton and Paul Vaughan put them in control at halftime.

Most would have expected the Kangaroos to pick up where they left off after the break, but Tonga reloaded and came out full of venom.

Driving defence on Latrell Mitchell forced an error deep in Aussie territory. And after Kotoni Staggs was held up over the line, Jennings scored off a sweeping move to the left to cut the deficit to two points.

Another error by Mitchell from another massive Tonga tackle invited them back in.

And when Tevita Pangai Jr crashed over from close range to give his side the lead with 25 minutes to go, Tongan fans around the world were daring to dream.

It wasn’t that Australia didn’t have any chances to hit back, the Tongan defence simply refused to let them in.

The Kangaroos finished with a 66 per cent completion rate as the Tongans forced them into error after error.

And when they did have the Pacific Islanders on the ropes in the final minutes, Jason Taumalolo and co dug deep to pull off the mother of all upsets.