Rugby Union in Tonga - National

National

The national team (Ikale Tahi) has performed quite well on the international stage. Tonga has competed at five Rugby World Cups, the first being in 1987, and its best result to date was in 2007 when it defeated the USA and Samoa before losing narrowly to South Africa, the eventual winners of the competition, and England, the runners-up. By finishing third in their group, Tonga gained automatic qualification to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, held in New Zealand.

Tonga also competes in the Pacific Tri-Nations and the IRB Pacific 5 Nations. At club level, there are the Datec Cup Provincial Championship and the Pacific Rugby Cup. Rugby union is governed by the Tonga Rugby Union, which is also a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance. Tonga contributes to the Pacific Islanders rugby union team.

Tonga performs the Kailao (Sipi Tau) before its matches.

Read more about this topic:  Rugby Union In Tonga

Famous quotes containing the word national:

    Disney World has acquired by now something of the air of a national shrine. American parents who don’t take their children there sense obscurely that they have failed in some fundamental way, like Muslims who never made it to Mecca.
    Simon Hoggart (b. 1946)

    You are, or you are not the President of The National University Law School. If you are its President I wish to say to you that I have been passed through the curriculum of study of that school, and am entitled to, and demand my Diploma. If you are not its President then I ask you to take your name from its papers, and not hold out to the world to be what you are not.
    Belva Lockwood (1830–1917)

    This is the first national administration we’ve ever seen where the housewife couldn’t afford to buy groceries and the farmer couldn’t afford to grow them.
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)