Aussies up next for Tonga
ANDREW Fifita reckons he and Tonga are ready to play the Kangaroos, claiming they want a shot at the Rugby League World Cup champions.
Fifita helped kickstart a revolution of the international game last year when he walked away from Australia to play for Tonga, alongside New Zealand defector Jason Taumalolo.
Tonga are desperate for a maiden Test against the Kangaroos at the end of this year and did their chances no harm in Saturday night’s 38-22 defeat of Samoa in front of almost 18,000 people at Sydney’s Campbelltown Stadium.
It came off the back of last year’s World Cup success, where they drew sold-out crowds against both New Zealand and England as they fell two points short of the final.
“It’d be a massive game if we can get it on,” Fifita said.
“Looking at last year, I went and played for Australia (in the representative round) and there was barely anyone in the crowd for Australia and New Zealand down in Canberra.
“Then I came here (to the Pacific Test at Campbelltown) and it was a full house.
‘‘You look at the crowd tonight, wherever we play the crowd is going to follow.”