RWC: A history of Tongan tussles

The All Blacks and Tonga clash in their final Pool C game at Newcastle on Saturday morning. We scan Tonga's history at the World Cup.

* Tonga and New Zealand have met just four times in total, with three of those World Cup games. The Tongans were wiped out at Brisbane in 2003, but caused the All Blacks a few problems in Bristol (1999) and at Eden Park in the first game of the 2011 tournament.

* Tonga's first World Cup game was in Napier, 1987, a heavy defeat to Canada. There was no qualification for the first tournament and Tonga were one of the invitees, with their rivals Western Samoa the controversial omission.

* The massive, wild reception given by Tongan people to their team when it arrived in Auckland in 2011 will never be forgotten. An estimated 7000 fans greeted the players at Auckland Airport, in what a Herald report described as "pandemonium". A convoy of 200 vehicles followed the team bus to a reception in Epsom attended by 2000 people. A police spokesman reported "cars facing the wrong way on the motorway, and people running out in front of the Tongan bus." It was a great day for the city, but the Tongan team had trouble translating the excitement into the World Cup kickoff against the All Blacks.

* Tonga created another highlight in 2003, when they brought their sipi tau face to face with the All Blacks' pre-match haka in Brisbane.

* The Tongan All Black superstar Jonah Lomu was the main attraction at the 2011 Eden Park opening ceremony, but the tournament demands began to take a terrible toll that night on his kidney-related health issues. His doctor and friend John Mayhew later revealed the situation got so bad he feared Lomu might die.

*The maltreatment of World Cup minnows got an airing after Tonga were battered 91 - 7 by the All Blacks at Brisbane in 2003. Coach Jim Love complained: "We have had to play three games in the space of only nine days, while teams like New Zealand have 14 days."

*Centre Epi Taione - who is the Tongan union's chairman nowadays - changed his named by deed poll to Paddy Power in the 2007 tournament, in a team sponsorship deal with the Irish bookmakers. (sites like ESPN scrum.com list Taione under his real name however).

* Tonga have played in seven of the eight World Cups. Going into this tournament, they had won six games and lost 15, and have yet to make the quarter-finals. They did beat eventual finalists France by 19 - 14 in Wellington in 2011, the scoreline not reflecting the extent of Tongan dominance. This was rated by some as the greatest World Cup upset, although Japan's win over South Africa in 2015 easily eclipses that. A stirring fightback against South Africa in France, 2007, was another highlight. The Springboks had led by 17 but were forced to cling on for a five point victory.