Vainikolo happy to be back

Tonga winger Fetu'u Vainikolo is pleased to be back on his old stomping ground ahead of tomorrow night's clash with Canada at Toll Stadium.

The former Northland Taniwha and Super Rugby's Highlanders back, renowned for his explosive ball carrying and pace, was selected to debut for the Ikale Tahi this year, and arrived in Whangarei yesterday with the team ahead of their second Pool A Rugby World Cup clash tomorrow against Canada.

While he missed the cut for Friday's opening match against the All Blacks, the 26-year-old has his "fingers crossed" he will be named in the line-up to face Canada, in the Canucks' first World Cup clash.

"I'm looking forward to playing back where I started out," Vainikolo said, referring to his 22 Northland caps earned between 2007 and 2008.

"It will be great to play at Toll Stadium again. I played there last year with the New Zealand Barbarians against NZ Maori, after it changed from being Okara Park, and it's a great ground," he said.

While Vainikolo, from Ha'alalo in Tonga, has no family in Northland, he said he had old friends and teammates here, including Rene Ranger, and current Taniwha coach Adriaan Ferris - Vainikolo's old club coach at Wellsford.

After playing three seasons with Northland, Vainikolo transferred to Otago, but following his exclusion from the Highlanders main squad for the 2011 Super 15 season, he took up a contract with Magners League side Connacht, in Galway, Ireland.

"I had just gone over to Connacht and had only been there four weeks when I got the call up. I was stoked ... I will head back to Ireland for the rest of the season after the World Cup," Vainikolo said.

Playing arguably their toughest match of the pool on Friday had prepared Tonga nicely for the rest of their games, he added.

"I don't think we are disadvantaged because of the quick turnaround at all heading into this match against Canada. While it's their first match, we had a good physical hit out, with lots of contact, which has warmed us up."

Tomorrow's match is one the Ikale Tahi are targeting to win although the team do not know what to expect from Canada, Vainikolo admitted.

"They are a bit of an unknown side for us really having not seen them play yet, but we will respect them and we can't take them lightly," he said.

So far, the support for Tonga had been staggering, with Auckland's Tongan community turning out in their masses, which had lifted the Ikale Tahi on Friday night to produce a performance the team were very proud of and gained a lot of confidence from.

"It's pretty amazing ... we had a lot of support in Tonga when we left but not like when we arrived here."

The team was interested in finding out what support Northland Tongans would bring to the two matches at Whangarei's Toll Stadium, tomorrow and next Wednesday against Japan, he said. Kick off for tomorrow's match is at 5pm.