A red card and two yellows didn’t help Tonga’s cause as Canada beat them 36-27 in Kingston in the Pacific Nations Cup on Saturday. James Pritchard scored a try and 18 points with the boot as Tonga’s ill-discipline cost them.
Tonga scored three late tries to improve the look of the overall scoreline, but it was Canada that impressed as they took the Tongan physicality on the chin, and remain unbeaten in the tournament.
Tongan prop Eddie Aholelei was red carded for throwing a punch after a brawl had stopped, and two other players were yellow carded for shoulders or high tackles.
“Our discipline let us down today, we can’t afford to have men sent off and sin-binned; that’s an area we’ve got to work on,” said Tonga captain Nili Latu.
“We wanted this game so much and showed a lot of fight. There is a lot of belief and we still have two games left to play.”
Canada can claim the Pacific Nations Cup title if they beat Japan on June 19th, four days after they play the touring Irish side in Toronto.
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