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South Sydney has recruited two members of its touring Tonga schoolboys team, with others also likely to be offered life-changing opportunities by NRL clubs.
The Tongan boys and girls school teams flew home on Tuesday after a successful tour of Australia and the surge in participation will be further fuelled by news that some players will return home on scholarships.
The Cowboys signed two players – Epafeliasi Noa and Alekisio Siale – following last year’s inaugural Tonga Schoolboys Rugby Tour and NRL tournament. The number of schools participating in rugby league in Tonga has doubled.
The Tonga Schoolgirls won all three of their matches on the historic tour and the players are also being courted by clubs when the NRLW expands to 12 teams in 2025.
“The Rabbitohs have identified two boys in the team who could potentially come here next year on school scholarships through the Rabbitohs pathway and there are a couple more in the pipeline,” NRL Tonga manager Tavake Fangupo said.
“The girls have had great, great success and we’ve had discussions with a couple of players who have done really well and they may get some opportunities in the future.”
Rabbitohs director of elite pathways and player development Tyrone McCarthy said Malakai Havealeta and Sione Finau had been offered scholarships to the school after playing against prominent league side Keebra Park High School.
McCarthy said the pair would join the South East Queensland Development Academy at the Queensland Rabbitohs in Brisbane.
“The idea is that they will train in Keebra for the next couple of years and then when they come to SG Ball-age, if they perform well, we will consider bringing them to us and give them a chance,” McCarthy said.
“If the Tonga national team can make it to the NRL then it can only be a good thing for them and Kibra School is an excellent school with a long history of producing NRL players.
“The reason we have formed a partnership with Keebra is to ensure we are at the front of the queue to get the best talent and provide young players with an opportunity to get into the NRL.”
The Rabbitohs have links with Tonga through interim coach Ben Hornby, who assisted Kristian Woolf at the last World Cup in 2022, while Keaon Koloamatangi, Tevita Tatola, Siliva Havili and Dion Teaupa have all represented Tonga.
The Tongan students visited the Dolphins where Woolf, Tevita Pangai Junior and Isaiya Katoa presented their jerseys and also visited the Titans where they were warmly received by David Fifita and Jojo Fifita.
They also watched the game, as did the school’s girls team, which was based in Sydney and played for a time with the Panthers, where they met Nathan Cleary and other players.
“We also had a chance to sit down with Sam Tagataese, the Dolphins welfare manager,” Fangupo said.
“He talked about the importance of education in the game and this was a great opportunity to show the kids there’s more to the game than just football.”
“It was a great experience for the girls as well, they got to play in two NRL games and get the chance to go through Penrith. It was great for them to get that opportunity with a championship team.”
Fangupo said the success of the tour would have a significant impact on the development of rugby in Tonga, with the number of schools participating in rugby league doubling to 16 since the first tour to Australia last year.
“We did the tour last year and two boys signed with the Cowboys, so when we launched it this year, every kid wanted to play rugby league, be part of the tour and get the same opportunities as those boys,” he said.
“This year we decided to include girls as well, it was only fair considering there are so many talented girls in Tonga and as NRLW is a semi-professional sport we thought we would give them the same opportunity.
“The idea is to do this tour every year and it will help us grow our game in the Pacific Islands.
“When we come back we will start our junior tournaments which will probably have a bigger turnout because of this tour and kids wanting to come to our tournaments.”
Source: NRL
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