Fans turn out for Tonga touchdown
It wasn’t the standard greeting for the Sunday afternoon flight from Hamilton – a red sea of singing and cheering Tonga fans, tightly packed in the arrivals lounge.
Hundreds of fans were at Christchurch airport to welcome Tonga’s rugby league team, fresh from a stunning upset over New Zealand in the Rugby League World Cup.
The team landed in the city ahead of its quarter final match on Saturday against Lebanon.
It was a rapturous atmosphere at arrival gate D12; fans waved flags and banners and sang songs, drowning out the airport’s intercom.
The flight was slightly delayed – arriving passengers from other flights looked surprised when greeted by hundreds of red-clad league fans.
Several fans described the joy of watching Saturday’s match. Mate Ma’a Tonga was losing 16-2 at halftime before mounting an unprecedented comeback, scoring four tries in 17 minutes to defeat one of the world’s best teams.
‘‘I always support Tonga. Win or lose, I would have been here,’’ fan Meleane Mahina said.
‘‘This isn’t even all of us, there’s still more to come.’’
Fans made their way to the airport in cars and bikes, Tongan flags streaming behind.
The players were swamped immediately upon entering the airport – Jason Taumalolo, who infamously turned down the Kiwis to join Tonga, was a fan favourite.
Captain Sika Manu spoke to the crowd in Tongan. His grandfather was there to welcome the team.
Many of the supporters arrived together from church and were with their families, Tonga fan Lote Aho said.
‘‘[The game] was unbelievable. Unbelievable,’’ he said.
‘‘100 per cent, they’ll go all the way.’’
If they beat Lebanon at AMI Stadium, Tonga will likely face England in the semi-final.
Saturday’s match was the first time a second-tier team beat a toptier team in a rugby league world cup.
Coach David Kidwell denies the pressure is ramping up on him or his side, despite the Kiwis carving out an unwanted slice of history.
Falling victim to Tonga 28-22 in their Rugby League World Cup pool B decider in Hamilton on Saturday, New Zealand became the first of the big three nations to ever lose to a second-tier side.
Effectively, it was the biggest upset in the international game, though considering Tonga’s roster – defectors and all – there was a time this was going to come, and the result does wonders for the sport.
However, for the Kiwis, it’s yet another stumble, which has become far too commonplace of late; and leaves their World Cup dreams in tatters. Instead of a likely semifinal matchup with England in Auckland, Australia in Brisbane now looms, though now even getting past Jarryd Hayne’s Fiji in Saturday’s quarterfinal in Wellington must not even be taken for granted.
Kidwell’s Kiwis coaching record now reads an ugly three wins, a draw (against Scotland), and five losses (to Tonga, and all four meetings with the Kangaroos).
Along with some shabby onfield showings, there surely has to be some serious swing in fortunes if there’s going to be much confidence in appointing him past his current January 2018 contract expiry.
Not that Kidwell seems to be feeling the heat, repeating his immediate post-match summation at the team’s recovery session on Sunday that the loss to Tonga was a ‘‘blessing in disguise’’.
‘‘There’s no embarrassment, you look at Tonga, they’re a very good side,’’ he said.
However, for the defeat to be a true blessing, the Kiwis would have to learn something out of it and progress to bigger things. But the need to atone for the result by beating Australia, or going on to win the tournament, wasn’t being entertained by Kidwell.
‘‘We are on a different path now, and Fiji’s in our way at the moment so our focus is them,’’ he said.
Despite the galling loss, Kidwell said the night was no more restless than the usual lack of sleep a coach gets post-game, and he was also able to explain why the team were in good spirits in their Sunday pool session, joking around as ice bags got flung at one another.
‘‘Oh look, we’ve got commitment in there, and we know there’s a couple of little things in that game - a good 15-minute period there where Tonga had
"We know we’re quietly confident, and if we fix those little things in the game it will hold us in good stead for the rest of the tournament." David Kidwell, right
scored a couple of tries,’’ he said, identifying kick-pressure improvement as key, along with discipline, and completion rate, which was just 68 per cent to Tonga’s 86.
‘‘We know we’re quietly confident,
and if we fix those little things in the game it will hold us in good stead for the rest of the tournament.’’
The team were flying to Wellington on Sunday afternoon, and
Kidwell said the only injury concern coming out of the game was winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who had a ‘‘knock to the knee’’, and would be monitored through the week.