Tonga keen to take on All Blacks, and grab last Olympic 7s spot in Tokyo

 Former All-Black, Malakai Fekitoa, is poised to return to Tonga's 15-a-side ranks, after committing to play for the national sevens team in next month's final Olympic qualifier in Monaco.

 "We've done the documents for him and New Zealand have released him back to Tonga who he originally played for when he was 18," TRU Chief Executive Peter Harding has told Pacific Beat.

 "We have probably two others, (who're ready to make the switch) we're just confirming at the moment who will be playing for us, but that's about the maximum we have at the moment because of the fixture clash with the big European club competition finals."

 "We're going to put out a very good side of professional Europe-based players over there. Everyone's incredibly keen to play. I'm not sure whether we'll qualify, but I'm not sure we won't qualify either," Harding said.

 "It's gonna be a very difficult competition, but we're going to have a very good team."

 Meanwhile confirmation of a clash with the All Blacks in July is imminent, but Harding says the Tongan team for that match would be drawn from players based in Oceania, to avoid the cost and inconvenience of Managed Isolation and Quarantine. (MIQ)

 "If we did bring players back, we'd have to secure MIQ spots in New Zealand, which is very tough to do, and we'd have to actually get them in and somehow pay the $5,000 for that MIQ."

 "It'll be a good team, but perhaps not a team that many Tongan fans would recognise," Harding said.

 Sceptics say New Zealand have been forced to organise matches with the Pacific Island nations, including back to back tests against Fiji, because of COVID-19 border restrictions, but Peter Harding says he's thankful, not cynical.

 "We can't afford to take a cynical view on this, what we've got to do is make the most of what's put in front of us...it's going to be a celebration of Pacific rugby."

SOURCE: ABC/PACNEWS

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