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Tonga pack to average over 19 stone a man against England

153kg prop Ben Tameifuna

Tonga will field a near one tonne pack against the might of Eddie Jones’ England. Bristol centre Siale Piutau will lead Tonga in Sunday’s World Cup opener against England in Sapporo.

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Piutau is one of seven players in the Pacific Islanders’ starting XV who has experience of playing in England and among four who competed in the Gallagher Premiership last season.

Bath centre Cooper Vuna is present as is Racing 92 prop Ben Tameifuna, who last year weighed in at a colossal 153kg to make him the heaviest player in Test rugby.

The total weight of pack comes in at a 974kg, an average of just under 122kg a man.

Leicester full-back Telusa Veainu and London Irish lock Steve Mafi have been ruled out by respective foot and shoulder problems.

“Eddie Jones prepares his teams really well. This is a massive challenge for us, but we have nothing to lose and I think England are under more pressure than us,” head coach Toutai Kefu said.

“He’s picked a very strong team, but is there a weak England team? I don’t think there is with this squad.”

Tonga: D Halaifonua; A Pakalani, S Piutau, C Vuna, V Lolohea; K Morath, S Takulua; S Fisiihoi, S Sakalia, B Tameifuna, S Lousi, H Fifita, S Kalamafoni, Z Kapeli, M Vaipulu.

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Replacements: S Maile, L Talakai, M Fia, D Faleafa, N Mau, L Fukofuka, J Faiva, N Tu’itavake.

– PA, additional reporting by RugbyPass

On the eve of the RWC in Japan, England great Neil Back sits down with RugbyPass’ Jim Hamilton to recount his Rugby World Cup Memories.

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NH 52 minutes ago
Battle of the breakdown to determine Wallabies’ grand slam future

Nice one John. I agree that defence (along with backfield kick receipt/positioning) remains their biggest issue, but that I did see some small improvements in it despite the scoreline like the additional jackal attempts from guys like tupou and the better linespeed in tight. But, I still see two issues - 1) yes they are jackaling, but as you point out they aren't slowing the ball down. I think some dark arts around committing an extra tackler, choke tackles, or a slower roll away etc could help at times as at the moment its too easy for oppo teams to get quick ball (they miss L wright). Do you have average ruck speed? I feel like teams are pretty happy these days to cop a tackle behind the ad line if they still get quick ball... and 2) I still think the defence wide of the 3-4th forward man out looks leaky and disconnected and if sua'ali'i is going to stay at 13 I think we could see some real pressure through that channel from other teams. The wallabies discipline has improved and so they are giving away less 3 pt opportunities and kicks into their 22 via penalty. Now, they need to be able to force teams to turnover the ball and hold them out. They scramble quite well once a break is made, but they seem to need the break to happen first... Hunter, marika and daugunu were other handy players to put ruck pressure on. Under rennie, they used to counter ruck quite effectively to put pressure on at the b/down as well.

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