Mt smart stadium

The Penrose-based venue has been the home of the New Zealand Warriors since 1995, where they began their jounrey as a start-up franchise.

Moana Pasifika patron Tuifa'asisina Sir Bryan Williams said they were humbled to share Mt Smart as its home playing base.

"We've worked extremely hard to get to this point, and to have a sense of home and place to continue building our unique brand in the world's most competitive professional competition is huge," he said.

New Zealand Rugby has confirmed the dates and venues for the Tests against Tonga and Fiji.

Italy were originally scheduled to tour here, but cancelled due to concerns around travelling during the coronavirus pandemic.

The All Blacks will play Tonga at the Warriors home ground on July 3rd, the following Saturday they'll play Fiji in Dunedin and then a week later they'll meet Fiji again in Hamilton.

The Kiwi's coach has compared the clash to Australia's 'State of Origin' with the now infamous passion of Tonga's supporters expected to drown out any potential 'home' advantage.

The team's hugely successful Rugby League World Cup campaign in 2017 exposed many to the Pacific nation's pride for their team and country. Supporters dominated stadiums and red and white flags coloured neighbourhoods.

Over the past few weeks cars adorned with Tongan flags have reappeared on the Auckland's streets.

For the New Zealand men's and women's rugby league teams, Saturday's matches fit firmly into that category.

As they did in selling out Mt Smart Stadium for last year's test against Australia, Tongan fans will be out in force to support their side.

Kiwis playmaker Shaun Johnson admitted silencing the song, and lowering the thousands of red flags, would take some doing.

"We'll do our best to try to take the crowd out of the game. Whether we can do that or not, because they're so passionate, that's yet to be seen.

New Zealand Rugby League is expecting a crowd above 20,000 for Saturday's test between the Kiwis and Tonga, which is still way up on the 12,763 fans that turned up to watch New Zealand stun Australia at the Auckland venue last October. 

However, tickets for this weekend's clash - the first between the two nations since Tonga's historic upset at the 2017 World Cup - have not sold as fast as expected.

It's a change from Tonga's previous two games at Mt Smart, when a 'sea of red' flooded the stands.