‘Strongest ever’ Tonga have sights set on Scotland, Ireland and Springboks in Rugby World Cup ‘Pool of Death’

The ‘Pool of Death’ just got a little more deadly. Tonga, dangerous floaters in Scotland’s group at the Rugby World Cup, have further bolstered their squad with the recruitment of another ex-Wallaby.

Adam Coleman, the London Irish lock who has been capped 38 times by Australia, has been named in Tonga’s squad for next month’s warm-up matches against Fiji and Japan. He is able to switch allegiance via World Rugby’s eligibility laws which allow a capped player to play for another country for which they are eligible following a three-year cooling-off period, the same rule which saw Scotland cap Jack Dempsey, another former Wallaby.

Coleman’s late father was Pau’u Afeaki, the former Tonga skipper, and he becomes the latest player to pledge his future to the Pacific island nation who are coached by the former Wallabies No 8 Toutai Kefu. Kefu has taken full advantage of the new eligibility rule which, by general consensus, was designed to redress the balance in terms of the historical talent drain from nations such as Tonga, Samoa and Fiji who have lost scores of players to Australia and New Zealand over the years.

Kefu has already recruited former Wallabies full-back Israel Folau and forward Lopeti Timani, as well as the ex-All Blacks Malakai Fekitoa, Vaea Fifita, Charles Piutau, with George Moala and Augustine Pulu expected to follow suit. It all adds up to bad news for Tonga’s Pool B opponents at the World Cup, Scotland, South Africa, Ireland and Romania. Any notion that the Scots were in a three-way battle with the Springboks and the Irish for the two qualification places will have to be reassessed. “I think this is the strongest team Tonga will ever select,” Kefu told Rapport newspaper. “It would mean the world to us to beat a team like South Africa, Ireland or Scotland.”

Adam Coleman played for Australia at the 2019 Rugby World Cup but looks set to represent Tonga at the 2023 edition. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

Tonga, who have never made it out the pool stage, sit out the first weekend at the World Cup then open their campaign against Ireland in Nantes on September 16 before facing Scotland in Nice on September 24, South Africa in Marseille on October 1 and Romania in Lille on October 8 in what is toughest pool in the tournament by a distance.