Transcript
If you were in the suburbs of South Auckland earlier this week, it would have been hard to escape the excited fans in red flying their Tongan flags on vehicles and beeping their horns in support of Kau To'a, the team playing under the banner of Tonga Invitational XIII.
Following a mammoth defensive effort in taming the Great Britain Lions 14-6 in Hamilton last weekend, co-captain Jason Taumalolo says it's a sign of what's to come when they play Australia on Saturday night.
"If today is anything to go by, I think this weekend is going to be even more crazier than what it is today so that can only mean a good thing for us. You know, they really turned out in numbers today."
Fans lined up to meet and greet the players stretching as far as the length of the field before organisers were forced to split the team into two, yet some still missed out on meeting their favourite players who signed autographs for over an hour.
But it wasn't just the players in high-demand for handshakes and selfies, with crowds lining up to take photos with Tonga's Invitational head coach, Kristian Woolf.
Despite a long-running dispute between Woolf and the Tonga-based TNRL, Woolf says the community has been supportive of him and his role while he's been involved with the team.
"The Tongan community are always great. Ever since I've been involved, they've always been really supportive, they're terrific fans and I can't speak highly enough of them.
Woolf's team will conclude the triple header against Australia with Samoa and Fiji kicking off proceedings before Great Britain look to get their tour back on track against the New Zealand Kiwis.
All six teams were at the fan day to meet the rugby league supporters but Kiwi's Roger Tuivasa-Sheck says there's no escaping the sea of red, giving praise to the Tongan community for their continuous belief in their team and country.
"I actually low-key love it aye. I love how the Tongan people turn up and all the people actually turn up because they're bringing passion back into our game and this is what it's all about you know, creating more for our game and that's what they're doing so carry on."
Fiji return to the field this weekend after a disappointing World 9s campaign which saw the Bati lose every game and finish last in their pool. Despite having limited training time since then, Fiji veteran Kevin Naiqama says the team is in good spirits.
"Preparation has been good. We only just got into camp yesterday and arrived, but we had our first training session today. We've got a couple more days to prepare for our game against Samoa so, so far so good"
Fiji will play Samoa in the opening match on Saturday before taking on Papa New Guinea in Christchurch next week.
