Nili Latu
Tonga’s big-hitting captain, Nili Latu, is excited about facing up to his 1st and last All Blacks haka.
Having been controversially dropped from Tonga’s squad on the eve of the tournament 4 years ago, Latu was absent from the side beaten 10 / 41 by the hosts in the opening match of the 2011 Rugby World Cup at Eden Park in Auckland.
The only 3 previous meetings between the countries were before his time in the international arena – a 7 / 91 loss at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, the infamous 0 / 102 defeat at North Harbour in 2000, and a 45 / 9 win for the men in black at Bristol at the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
“I believe this could be my last season with the international team and it’s just a perfect way of going out. I’m really excited about the game. I played a bit in New Zealand with Richie McCaw and a lot of the All Black boys are my friends as well.
“It’ll be good to rub shoulders with them but this could be my 1st and last game against the All Blacks,” Latu said.
With a 31-point losing margin being the closest Tonga have got to New Zealand, the task facing Latu and his team would appear to be a hugely daunting one.
“I keep saying to my team, that you’ve got to come to the Rugby World Cup and be really positive. We can’t think of ourselves as a tier 2 nation. We have to be confident that whatever goal we set we can achieve. We’ve seen Georgia and Namibia push the All Blacks.
“We played our best rugby last week, apart from the scoreboard. We just made too many mistakes when we had the ball. It’s something that we looked at today. You can’t afford to do that against a tier 1 nation. We want to fix up all our mistakes and stuff and take it to the All Blacks,” he said.
Like Tonga centre Siale Piutau, whose brother Charles was unlucky to miss the cut for New Zealand’s 31-man Rugby World Cup squad, Latu has a family connection with the All Blacks. He is a cousin of Doug Howlett, the flying wing who scored an All Black record 49 tries in 62 Tests for New Zealand between 2000 and 2007.
“I keep in touch with his mother. I know he’s out in Ireland somewhere but I’m not sure what he’s up to at the moment, after retiring. I’m sure we’re going to run into each other sometime,” he stated.
Coach Mana ‘Otai has made a solitary change to the starting line-up that lost to Argentina, with Latiume Fosita replacing Sione Piukala at inside centre.
This is the fewest changes Tonga have made between successive Rugby World Cup matches since 2003. In that year, they made no changes to the side that lost to Wales and then faced the All Blacks.
Tonga: 15 Vungakoto Lilo, 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Siale Piutau, 12 Latiume Fosita, 11 Fetu’u Vainikolo, 10 Kurt Morath, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Viliami Ma’afu, 7 Nili Latu (Captain), 6 Sione Kalamafoni, 5 Joseph Tuineau, 4 Tukulua Lokotui, 3 Halani ‘Aulika, 2 Elvis Taione, 1 Soane Tonga’uiha
Replacements: 16 Paula Ngauamo, 17 Sona Taumalolo, 18 Sila Puafisi, 19 Sitiveni Mafi, 20 Jack Ram, 21 Samisoni Fisilau, 22 Viliami Tahitua, 23 Will Helu.
Date: Friday 9 October
Venue: St James’ Park, Newcastle
Kick-Off: 21:00 SA Time (20:00 BST, 19:00 GMT, Saturday 08:00 NZ & Tonga Time)
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: JP Doyle (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)