Tonga win Cup tie

Tonga struggled to assemble a team but still beat the Cook Islands 54-10 on Saturday in a qualifying match for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. With their Europe-based players unavailable, Tonga used 17 new caps in tests against New Zealand and Samoa this month, then named six more in the line-up to play the Cook Islands in the Oceania qualifier at Pukekohe. Tonga will now play whoever becomes Asian champion — Hong Kong, Malaysia or South Korea — in an Asia-Pacific qualifying match for a place beside South Africa, Ireland and Scotland at Pool B in France. The Cook Islands still have a chance to qualify through the final qualifying tournament, in which they will compete against teams from the Americas, Europe and Africa for the 20th and last place in the tournament.