Tonga and Samoa on collision course
Get ready for the big bang.
Today’s Rugby League World Cup match between Tonga and Samoa at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton will feature some of the biggest collisions seen on a league field in New Zealand.
Not only are there a series of massive humans across the Pacific teams, but both nations pride themselves on a confrontational style of game.
It’s built around physical intimidation, with a fearless approach to putting your body on the line.
There’s been a taste of it during the Pacific Challenge tests over the last few years, but this will be a several degrees higher.
It’s a World Cup match, and feels like a “home” game for both teams, given the large Tongan and Samoan populations in New Zealand. The buildup to the match has increased the tension, with several incidents in South Auckland between fans from the two countries.
The game is in the spotlight — easily the most high profile match of the tournament across this weekend — and there’s a lot at stake. Both teams are hoping to finish as high as possible in Group C, to avoid a quarter-final match with the Kangaroos in the last eight.
Tonga has some of the biggest names, and bodies, in the sport. Sharks prop Andrew Fifita stands at 1.94m and weighs more than 120kg, while Jason Taumalolo (1.91m, 113kg)
appears to be carved from solid granite.
Fellow forwards Ben MurdochMasila, Sika Manu and Sio Siua
Taukieaho are all over 110kg, while none of their backs are small.
Toa Samoa are even bigger. Their five-eighth Joseph Paulo (188cm,
106kg) would tower over many international forwards from the 1980s and 1990s and Joseph Leilua (185cm, 106kg) and Ken Maumalo (191cm,
105kg) are also intimidating propositions in the backline.
Junior Paulo, a 124kg prop, is the biggest man on the field, while Frank Pritchard, Josh Papali’i and Herman Ese’ese are also huge individuals.
It all adds up to a combustible mix, which is set to boil over on this evening.
Various studies over the years have compared the impact on the body of a thunderous league hit to that of a midlevel car crash, while the G forces experienced by the player can be equivalent to those felt by a F-16 fighter pilot.
According to a story from the New York Times, F-16 pilots experience a G-force of 9 (nine times the force of gravity) during a jet roll, while league collisions have been measured at 10G or more (although it is for a much shorter time). But if a 100kg player experiences a 10G hit, they feel 1000kg of force for a hundredth of a second.