Rugby: Wales see off strong Tongan challenge

Tonga loose forward Dan Faleafa fends off Wales 1st-five Sam Davies, during The Pasifika Challenge Test match between Wales and Tonga held at Eden Park. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

TONGA 6
WALES 24

There was a supposed to be a bit of Pacific magic to light up this intriguing curtain-raiser, but it never came.

For Tonga that meant they finished the game having to come to terms with the worst feeling of - having lost ugly. They will have to suck it up, though because they didn't play with enough accuracy or consistency to earn any other fate.

Not that Wales did either, really, but they did enough effective grinding away to at least give themselves opportunities to kick points. And they produced the game's only try with a piece of moderate skill.

It won't go down as a classic. Not even close. Both teams signalled early that they weren't going to be up to much.

There was lots of energy and desire to get stuck in, to keep the pace high and to test each other out. There was no problem on that front.

It was the accuracy that was missing. Badly missing. Neither team had much, and neither offered sustained periods where they were composed and fluid.
It was all jerky and stop-start, stop-start as passes didn't stick, or runners went the wrong way from their support, or the ball was spilled.
There was plenty of kicking, too from both sides, not much, if any of it, on the mark. So the game drifted along without a rhythm or defined sense of who might be dominating. Blink and you missed nothing.
There were a few bright spots. Gareth Anscombe at fullback for Wales was dangerous the few times he was involved. His pace was obvious and so too his willingness to at least try to break the game open.
He set up the first try with a scything break from deep where he used his space to get on the outside of Tonga's defence and play Alex Cuthbert into space.
The big wing still had plenty to do and for a big man there was a bit of finesse to his kick ahead that was perfectly weighted and cleverly manufactured to come away from the touchline.
The liveliness of Tongan halfback Sonatane Takulua lit things up at times. He was a combination of fast feet and big fends and found a bit of space behind the Welsh rucks.
A crunching tackle by David Halaifouna on Welsh wing Cory Allen was the only other major highlight. At first it looked pretty bad - that there was going to be no choice for the officials but to show the Tongan some kind of card. But the replay confirmed he hit in the chest with his shoulder and there was a legitimate effort to get his arms wrapped around.

Tonga 6 (S. Takulua 2 pens)
Wales 24(A. Cuthbert, Penalty tries; S. Davies 4 pens)