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Wales 27 Tonga 20: Minute by minute report

WALES 27 TONGA 20 (HT 14-10)

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0 mins: Tonga kick off, Stephen Jones collects and kicks to touch
1 mins: Wales have the first lineout of the game, Wales win it but fail to move the ball from the maul.
2 mins: Wales have first scrum of the match, the referee spots an infringement, and awards a penalty to Wales. Jones clears to touch.
3 mins: Tonga penalised for hands in the ruck. Jones scores the first penalty goal of the day, straight in front of the posts from 35m WALES 3 TONGA 0
5 mins: Tonga win their first lineout, and work the ball through the back line. Sililo Martens kicks to the corner.
6 mins; From an infringement following the lineout, Jones clears, but his kick fails to find touch and Tonga have the ball, but are inside their own half.
8 mins: Incisive break into the Wales 22 from Tonga after they win their scrum well.
9 mins: Tonga are on the scoreboard with an excellent penalty kick from the far left touchline from 25 m by Pierre Hola WALES 3 TONGA 3
11 mins: Wales have worked the ball to inside the redzone, with some good phase play and patience. Tonga penalised at the ruck. Stephen Jones scores an easy kick from 10 m straight in front of the posts WALES 6 TONGA 3
15 mins: Wales’ attack breaks down when Mark Jones is penalised
16 mins: Tongan scrum half Martens makes great break, and gets behind the Wales defence, he can’t offload to Tu’ifua and Shanklin pushes him out into touch.
19 mins: Wales win their scrum and move the ball through the backs at pace, Wales almost score a try, but Mark Jones is ankle-tapped just one metre from the line.
21 mins: Wales keeping Tonga under pressure, eventually they lose the ball when Mark Taylor knocks-on
22 mins; Tonga struggle in their scrum, but eventually clear, and their outside half kicks to touch.
24 mins: Wales camped in Tongan 22.
25 mins: A superb try from Gareth Cooper. Direct from the scrum he scampers down the blind side, and runs in from 20 metres. Jones misses the very difficult conversion WALES 11 TONGA 3
29 mins: Tonga score a try from Pierre Hola after a mistake by Rhys Williams. Hola converts WALES 11 TONGA 10
33 mins: Tonga’s Hola misses a 35 m kick
35 mins: Wales have good field position, and a four on two ovelap on the left hand side, but Harris’ pass goes to ground. Wales earn a penalty for an infringement at a ruck and Jones nails the kick WALES 14 TONGA 10
36 mins: Both Iestyn Harris and Jones are consistently failing to find touch with their kicks
37 mins: Tonga knock on. A scrappy period of play

HALF TIME – WALES 14 TONGA 10

40 mins: Jones kicks off – Tonga immediately offside. Jones slots the kick from 30 metres. WALES 17 TONGA 10
42 mins: The second half has started where the first left off – scrappy, with both sides making mistakes.
44 mins: Tongan flanker Afeaki penalised for throwing the ball in Dafydd Jones’ face, but Jones misses the 35m kick at goal.
46 mins: Mefin Davies makes a tremendous blast into the Tongan 22. But Charvis’ pass is forward and the move breaks down. The Tongan scrum is looking under pressure. But Jones misses the penalty goal.
48 mins: Wales attempt the catch and drive
50 mins: Tonga called for crossing. Jones attempts a very tricky kick, just short of the halfway line – but it hasn’t got the legs, and that’s three failed kicks in ten minutes by Jones
52 mins: Va’enuku intercepts a pass just when Wales look like capitalising on the overlap, he sprints 50 metres, and chips forward, but the ball goes to touch.
53 mins: Dafydd Jones penalised at the ruck. Hola slips just as he is about to kick, and misses from 22 metres.
57 mins: Video ref is called to determine if Rhys Williams has touched the ball down. Williams rotates and attempts to touch down. However, no angle is conclusive, and Wales have a scrum five metres out.
59 mins: A huge effort from the Tongan forwards sees them win the scrum against the head.
61 mins: Wales win turnover ball, and charge downfield.
62 mins: Wales win their lineout well, and are within 10m of the line, Martyn Williams scores a drop goal to put daylight between the sides WALES 20 TONGA 10
64 mins: A sensational 20 metre driving maul from the Tongan forwards results in a crowd pleasing try to Kivalu. Hola misses the conversion. WALES 20 TONGA 15
66 mins: Wales instantly reply. Tonga fail to collect the restart kick, and Wales pile into the 22, they have numbers on the left, a super pass by Harris puts British Lion Martyn Williams in in the corner. Jones makes the tricky conversion WALES 27 TONGA 15
71 mins: Wales in control of this match now, Tonga losing discipline
74 mins; Wales pay the price for leaving the fringes unlocked, a great break from Tongan lock Vaki, he spreads the ball wide. Wales called offside after soaking up some heavy pressure. Tonga opt for the scrum.
75 mins: Intense pressure on the Wales try line.
77 mins: Tonga score the try they have worked so hard for. Lavaka piles over in the corner. Hola misses the conversion. WALES 27 TONGA 20
79 mins: Excitement mounts around the stadium as Tonga mount another fast paced attack into Welsh territory. Great play by Tonga as they push toward the line.
80 mins: The referee blows his whistle, and Wales are relieved to have finished the match with the victory

FINAL SCORE: WALES 27 TONGA 20


Wales
: Rhys Williams; Mark Jones, Mark Taylor, Sonny Parker, Tom Shanklin; Stephen Jones, Gareth Cooper; Iestyn Thomas, Mefin Davies, Gethin Jenkins, Gareth Llewellyn, Robert Sidoli, Dafydd Jones, Colin Charvis, Alix Popham Replacements: Huw Bennett, Adam Jones, Chris Wyatt, Martyn Williams, Dwayne Peel, Iestyn Harris, Garan Evans

Tonga: P Hola; S Fonua, S Hufanga, J Payne, T Tu’ifua; S Tu’ipulotu, S Martens; K Pulu, V Ma’asi, H Lavaka, U Latu, V Vaki, I Fenukitau, S Afeaki, B Kivalu (capt).
Replacements: E Taukafa, T Lea’aetoa, M Ngauamo, N Naufahu, D Palu, G Leger, S Va’enuku.

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