No Auckland Airport welcome for Tongan fans if they make Rugby League World Cup semifinals

Tonga Fans during the 2017 Rugby League World Cup match between the Kiwis and Tonga. Photo / Getty

Tongan rugby league fans will not be able to welcome their team to Auckland, if they progress to the Rugby League World Cup semifinals.

Tonga are massive favourites to beat Lebanon in the quarter-final in Christchurch tomorrow, which would secure a semifinal against either England or Papua New Guinea in Auckland next Saturday.

When the Tongan team arrived in Auckland for the start of the World Cup in late October, roughly 3500 fans congregated at Auckland Airport to welcome their arrival.

However, Auckland Airport have said there is no space for Tongan fans to celebrate their side this time around, with the team instead set to jump on a bus straight after embarking off their flight, and not go through the domestic terminal.

"The decision to transfer the team this way has been made due to the airport's domestic terminal passenger flows and because there is not a suitable space in the domestic terminal for a large number of fans to gather and greet the team without causing disruption to other passengers and airport operations," said airport communications manager Lisa Mulitalo.

"The airport understands the pride the Tongan community has in their team and was proud to support the welcome event on the team's arrival into New Zealand on October 30 where approximately 3500 supporters came to greet the team and a special area was set up in the check-in area to cater for the large crowd. However, in this instance we need to ensure that the domestic terminal operates as efficiently as possible and cannot accommodate a fan event welcoming the team back to Auckland."

Tonga's clash against Lebanon gets underway at 5.00pm tomorrow and will be live blogged on nzherald.co.nz.