Ikale Tahi

Manu Samoa beat Tonga 25-17 on Saturday afternoon in wet and muddy ground conditions, which raised questions from players about the decision-making and player safety processes prior to the match.

Pacific Rugby Players' Association CEO Aayden Clarke said players from both teams were briefed about the weather conditions during a training camp in Auckland earlier this month, while officials from World Rugby raised the prospect of playing the game offshore, with no other grounds in Samoa meeting international standard.

Tonga opened their account by beating the French Barbarians before a 74-24 drubbing by Wales and a 20-9 defeat against Georgia.

Kefu said a host of injuries didn't help their cause but he still believed the team was on the right track.

"If you look at the Wales game the score got away from us probably in the last 20-25 minutes but we were head-to-head up until about the 50 minute mark," he said.

Tonga will take on the world champions in a one-off Test in Hamilton on Saturday 7 September.

The Kingdom have not beaten New Zealand in five previous tests, with four of those coming during Rugby World Cup pool stages.

Tonga coach Toutai Kefu said next year's match would be a special occasion.

"That will cap off our preparation before we get to Japan so by then we should have a very good squad and would have had probably eight weeks of training underneath our belt," Kefu said.

The Bay of Plenty loose forward and Taranaki utility back came off the bench against the French Barbarians two weeks ago but will start for the 'Ikale Tahi in Tbilisi, in place of Sione Vailanu, who drops to the reserves and captain Siale Piutau, who has returned to his club side Bristol.

In the only other change to the starting fifteen thumped 74-24 by Wales, Sefo Sakalia replaces Paula Ngauamo at hooker.

Hooker Sione Anga'aelangi is set to make his first test appearance since 2016 off the bench.

The Kingdom fought back from three tries down to level the scores just after half-time in Cardiff before conceding 50 unanswered points to lose 74-24.

Flanker Dan Faleafa said there were good and bad things about their performance.

"We showed some good attitude after having a yellow card and being down almost 20 points we showed some good resilience to get back and get back up to 24-all after half-time," he said.

The Castres Olympique second-rower will earn his 28th test cap for the Kingdom in place of Sam Ulufonua, who made his international debut in last weekend's 49-38 win over the French Barbarians.

The 28-year-old Mafi is one of eight players who started the 'Ikale Tahi's last test, a 27-19 victory over Fiji in June, and was also one of eight who played in the 24-6 defeat by Wales in Auckland last year.

Scrumhalf Sonatane Takulua scored two tries and converted all seven for Tonga, which led 28-7 at the interval and 49-14 before the Barbarians — featuring five French players from the side which won the Under-20 World Cup in June — mounted a late surge.

Tonga scored early as prop Siegfried Fisi’ihoi picked the ball up from a teammate held up on the line and found a small gap.

The Kingdom open their campaign against a French Barbarians team in Bordeaux, before tests against Wales and Georgia.

The 'Ikale Tahi ended the June window with back-to-back wins over Samoa and Fiji.

Captain Siale Pitau said they want to build on that momentum.

"There was a lot of hard work put in the couple of tours ... so I think we're just trying to build obviously our way into the World Cup, we're just trying to build on all these performances that we've been putting through," he said.

Tonga led 17-6 at half-time thanks to tries from debutant winger Viliame Lolohea and returning flyer Cooper Vuna on the other flank.

The Kingdom extended their advantage to 28-6 when Penikolo Latu combined defence with attack to score a stunning solo try midway through the second half but a lopsided penalty count ultimately caught up with the 'Ikale Tahi as Sosefo Sakalia, Paula Ngauamo and Sitiveni Mafi were sent to the sin bin in the final quarter of an hour, allowing Samoa to score two consolation tries.

Toutai Kefu said the team's high penalty count is a concern.

Tonga play tests against Georgia, Samoa and Fiji next month as they continue preparations towards the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

Head coach Toutai Kefu named six new caps in his 29-man squad, which will hold a week-long training camp in South Auckland from Sunday.

"This has been in the pipeline for a while and we've been able to secure some extra funding to make this happen so we're very lucky. If we didn't have that funding it would have been just the usual one week preparation for that Georgian test so to have that extra week is vital."