Tonga’s Under 20 side are one of only two teams unbeaten after three matches in the Aoniu Cup 2008, a competition which forms part of the Tonga Rugby Football Union and High Performance Unit’s development scheme.
The Aoniu Cup features 12 teams, one representing each of the 11 provinces in Tonga – including the outer islands – and the Under 20 side and at its conclusion selectors will name the Tau’uta Reds and Tautahi Gold squads for the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup.
These squads will then begin their preparations for the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup – which runs from 18 April to 24 May and involves two representative teams from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa – with Tau’uta Reds looking to build on their runners-up finish in 2007.
The Under 20 team have been included in the competition as part of their preparations for the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship to be held in Wales in June, where Tonga will face New Zealand, Argentina and Ireland in Pool A in Cardiff.
They kicked off their Aoniu Cup with a 15-9 defeat of Vava’u in week one and have followed that up with a 20-5 victory over Eua before last weekend picking up their first bonus point of the competition with a 25-3 defeat of Ha’apai.
Vaheloto are the only other unbeaten team, having picked up a bonus point in beating Hihifo 52-10 over the weekend in the most convincing victory of the competition so far. They had previously beaten Hahake 31-8 and Kauvai 15-0 in the first two weeks.
Kolomotu’a had also gone into week three with an unbeaten record following wins over Ma’ufanga 25-23 and Kolofo’ou 22-5, but they lost 19-13 to Havelu and crucially picked up a bonus point for losing by less than seven to finish top of their pool by a single point.
