Tiny Tonga have realized two dreams and there's one more still to come if they can defy the odds and knock aside holders England for a quarter-final spot at the Rugby World Cup.
The Tongan Sea Eagles shocked their fancied Pacific Island rivals Samoa 19-15 to remain unbeaten in the tournament after knocking over US 25-15 here last week.
Unbeaten Tonga have eight points and lie second in Pool A one point behind South Africa and four points ahead of England.
Tonga now have a great opportunity of reaching their first quarter-final at the World Cup if they can beat the faltering holders England in their last group match in Paris on Sept. 28 after they next play South Africa (next Saturday in Lens).
Inspirational skipper Nili Latu typifies the fighting spirit in the Tongan ranks as he looks ahead to bringing off a mighty achievement over the next fortnight.
"There's a simple answer: where's there's life, there's hope," Latu said on Sunday. "The team is still alive and well and we have managed to fulfil two of our dreams today so our next big dream is to make the quarter-final. We have to take it step by step and I'm just so proud of the boys. We don't have much, but we have each other and that gets us through when the going gets tough we count on each other."
The Tongans received a rapturous ovation from the French crowd after their triumph and they spent several minutes on the field soaking in all the adulation.
"Especially coming back with 13 men, it was difficult to win the game," number eight Finau Maka said. "It was an awesome, awesome game from the boys. Not many teams win with 13 men. It was an awesome win and we are dreaming of qualification [for the quarter-finals]. We're looking at South Africa and see what happens, then we'll think of England."
The Tongans had to play out the final minutes two players down after flanker Hale T Pole became the first player to be red-carded in the tournament in the 72nd minute and his replacement Toma Toke followed him off when he was yellow carded with four minutes left.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite