The Tongan community were out in force this afternoon to officially welcome their team to Auckland.
Arguably the biggest game of pool play at the Rugby League World Cup takes place on Saturday night and it is dividing the community.
There will almost certainly be more interest in the clash between Samoa and Tonga at Waikato Stadium than there will in the earlier contest where NewZealand meets Scotland.
If the streets of South Auckland are anything to go by it could be the single biggest game of the tournament.
Everywhere I have gone this week I have seen cars, houses, fences carrying the flags or colours of either side. The huge Samoan and Tongan communities in South Auckland have been out in full force as they eagerly await a match between two teams that are serious players in this World Cup.
The Tongan team held a public fan session this afternoon in Otahuhu and it was hugely supported. Fans turned up in staggering numbers to get a glimpse of their heroes. I saw the Samoan side leaving an inner city Auckland gym earlier in the day and they were greeted with toots of the horn and shouts of support.
Tonga World Rugby League team meets fans at Otahuhu Rugby League Cup today . 31 October 2017 New Zealand Herald photograph by Doug Sherring.
The rivalry between the two Pacific nations might be the closest thing New Zealand has to Celtic v Rangers in Scottish football. These two sporting teams carry the hopes of a huge part of society on their shoulders.
It is nation v nation for sure - and foreign ones at that - but given the size of the Pasifika population in New Zealand it also represents a big subsection of own country.
Rugby league is huge in the Pacific Island community and it is a sport in which those cultures excel at. Recent figures show the percentage of players with Pasifika heritage in the NRL is fast approaching 50 percent.
The game is fast becoming a sport dominated by players of Samoan and Tongan heritage and this grudge match between the two will be a source of huge pride for the respective fan bases.
Tonga World Rugby League team meets fans at Otahuhu Rugby League Cup today. New Zealand Herald photograph by Doug Sherring.
Recent matches between the two nations have been well-supported and have proven to be full of emotion and aggression. I expect Saturday night's contest to be no different.
Plenty of fans will travel from around the country - many from South Auckland - to the match at Waikato Stadium. There will be colour, singing, passion and the atmosphere will be electric especially as the players take the field, the anthems are performed and the respective challenges laid down.
I said on Radio Sport earlier today that I'm not usually one for getting into the pre-match festivities but this is one occasion where it proves an exception to my rule. The intensity with which these two teams will enter the game with makes for an explosive and entertaining occasion. On top of that there should be some high quality football between two extremely talented teams.
The Rugby League World Cup will start with the semifinals because there are only a handful of teams that can win it. But this match is the best entrée you'll get in the meantime.
