On the back of a Martha Mataele hat-trick, the Tongan women’s rugby league side have ended their Pacific Championships campaign on a high with a resounding 42-6 win over the Papua New Guinea Orchids.
Tonga got off to the perfect start as Malia Tuifua grubbered ahead perfectly for Moana Courtenay to open the scoring after just three minutes.
They would have a double soon after when Ruby Fifita would power over from close range to capitalise on a Papua New Guinea penalty.
Marie Biyama would unfortunately leave the field with an ankle injury for the Orchids.
The Orchids would wrestle back some momentum, however, as their only try of the game came when Naomi Kelly found a gap, hit the afterburners and raced away to score.
That joy was short-lived as more ill-discipline cost the Orchids, resulting in Pani Hopoate powering through or past five defenders to score another Tongan try.
Tonga would again work their way back to the red zone and capitalised to lead 18-6 at half-time when Mataele scored the first of her three tries.
Tuifua would then get a try of her own as some crafty footwork around the ruck near the try line saw her spin over to score.
Experience in the NRLW paid off again, this time when Jade Fonua was able to bulldoze her way over the Orchids defence.
Despite a small lull in scoring, Tonga would eventually make inroads again when Emmanita Paki sent Simina Lokotui over with a simple ball over the top.
Paki and Mataele would then combine on two occasions in the last eight minutes to round out Mataele’s hat-trick and a big win for Tonga.
The win was the first for the Tongan women since 2020.
Orchids coach Tahnee Norris admits she was disappointed and that a lack of momentum cost their side and ultimately gave Tonga points.
“Obviously disappointed,” said Norris.
“Momentum can change pretty quickly and we copped a lot of penalties in the first twenty minutes and couldn’t pull it back from there.”
Tongan coach Meg Ward could not hide her jubilation for the side who were dominant in every facet.
“I’m just so proud of this team,” said Ward.
“We had a little setback last week but we went away, worked on a lot of things and the girls just put to practice everything we did at training.”
Tonga 42 (Mataele 3, Fifita, Hopoate, Tuifua, Fonua, Lokotui; Goals: Paki 3). def. Papua New Guinea Orchids 6 (Kelly; Goals: Veivers)
