There was a time not so long ago when a Rugby World Cup clash with Tonga would have seemed a relatively undaunting task.
The Pacific Island nation, the smallest at the tournament this year with a population of around 100,000, have never made it out of the pool stages before.
But that unwelcome history doesn’t reflect Tonga’s extraordinary ability to produce elite rugby players and this year, that trait has come to fruition in a manner never seen before.
Five former All Blacks, including 2015 World Cup winner Malakai Fekitoa, took advantage of a World Rugby rule change that allows players to represent a second international side they are eligible for after three years without a cap.
Their call-ups led coach Toutai Kefu to describe this as “the best Tongan side ever assembled” ahead of the tournament.
And Fekitoa has reiterated that is exactly what Scotland will be up against in Nice on Sunday, when Tonga will look to bounce back from a 59-16 defeat to Ireland.
“As a team, we probably are the best ever selected for Tonga,” Fekitoa said.
“It’s different, how other people see us now. Ireland respected us more than ever before; they played their first-choice team.
“You know that’s when you’ve earned the respect of other teams. But I felt we didn’t really get to express ourselves, to play the game we wanted, with how many penalties we gave away.
“We defended 90% of the time, so we didn’t really get to showcase our talent and what we’ve worked really hard for in the last couple of months. I hope we can fix that quickly and perform against Scotland.”
Fekitoa has already achieved more than most players can dream of at international level, helping New Zealand achieve an unprecedented World Cup defence eight years ago.
But in 2022, five years after his last All Blacks appearance against the British and Irish Lions, the centre switched back to his native Tonga – earning him the chance to make a second World Cup ‘debut’ against the Irish in Nantes on Saturday.
“They are both very special jerseys,” he said.
“Different in a way, because of the legacy and how much the black jersey meant for a lot of people. You don’t want to let anyone down when you wear that jersey and that was special.
“But I’m back in my home country representing my family, my village, where I was brought up. It was special to run out, especially at a World Cup, where the whole world is watching.
“When I ran out, I felt light, motivated, I had a lot of energy and I wished I got involved more. I imagined the game in a different way, but this is how it went, with a lot of penalties and ill-discipline that we had.
“My personal feeling, I was ready to go and I hope to have the same feeling again this weekend and hopefully we can go out there and express ourselves as a team.”
There is clear frustration around the Tonga camp about the ill-discipline that cost them in a heavy defeat to the world No. 1 side.
A penalty count of 16 provided an obvious place to start when seeking improvement.
But Tonga’s preparation to tackle the ‘Pool of Death’ against three of the world’s top-five sides has been far from ideal.
They came into the tournament having not played a match for a month, and without facing top-tier opposition in two years.
Fekitoa therefore believes the only way is up.
“We’re all old enough now and have played the game so long that we learn fast,” he said.
“We haven’t played a test match for over a month now, Ireland played three test matches last month.
“They are No. 1 for a reason, they tested us in areas that we probably didn’t really think mattered – around the ruck, around set pieces, they contested every single ball.
“I hope we get that fixed and that we can play a bit with the ball. I hope I can get involved more, and the likes of Charles [Piutau] as well.”
The message coming from players and coaches is uniform – improvement will come from focusing on themselves and not on opponents.
But Fekitoa’s experience for former clubs and countries – namely Munster and New Zealand – means he is more than familiar with the Scottish threat.
“I’ve played Scotland many times with the All Blacks, with Munster against Glasgow and Edinburgh, they have very good players,” said the 31-year-old.
“Big men, very physical, with an influence of South Africans as well. They’ve got speed across the park and Finn [Russell] with a lot of magic in his hands. He can play from anywhere.
“They are just as much of a threat as Ireland and a very good side, fifth in the world. It’s not getting any easier for us but the only fix for us is ourselves.
“We’ve got to come back and learn from last week and make sure we secure the ruck, hopefully we can retain the ball for at least longer than last weekend.”
Another of the men hoping to stick a dagger in Scottish hopes in Nice is Leicester wing Solomone Kata.
The 28-year-old, starring at his first World Cup, is grateful for the input from Fekitoa and the other former All Blacks.
“They’re helpful,” he said. “They’ve been around, they were with the All Blacks.
“Their leadership around the group, trying to get a hold of the other boys, trying to move [on] as quick as we can, no stop to worry about what we’ve done and just look forward to Scotland.”
For defence coach Dale MacLeod, the experience of testing themselves against the best in the world in the opening game will stand Tonga in good stead.
“I think that if we go back to Ireland, we were probably too over-eager,” he said.
“We don’t really want to fizz the boys up too much, we want to keep them cool, calm and collected. The boys believe we can beat anyone on our day.”
