Tonga survived a serious scare from Papua New Guinea to win its Rugby League World Cup opener 24-18 on Tuesday.
The Tongans were favoured after reaching the semifinals in 2017 but blew an 18-6 halftime lead.
The Kumuls rallied to tie the score with 13 minutes to go before hooker Keaon Koloamatangi came through for Tonga with the winning try three minutes from the end.
After one-sided contests over the weekend, organisers will be thrilled with the penultimate match of round one which thoroughly entertained the crowd of 10,409.
PNG led early after second-rower Rhyse Martin breached the Tonga defence for the opening try, which he converted.