The beautiful story!
Tonga beat Asian champions Hong Kong 44-22 in the Asia/Pacific play-off played in Australia at the Sunshine Coast Stadium and secured their ticket to the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
In their ninth appearance at the Rugby World Cup, Tonga join Romania, Ireland, Scotland and world champions South Africa in Pool B.
A qualifying campaign that started more than a year ago
The "Ikale Tahi" will start their 2023 campaign against Ireland in Nantes on September 16, before playing Scotland in Nice on September 24, South Africa in Marseille on October 1 and finishing against Romania in Lille on October 8.
Tonga's qualifying campaign began just over a year ago, when they were beaten by Samoa in the Oceania home-and-away play-off (42-13 and 37-15), to lose 79 -28 over both runs.
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Tonga then bounced back with a 54-10 win over the Cook Islands to qualify for the Asia/Pacific Play-off 1 against Hong Kong on Australia's Sunshine Coast.
Hong Kong's qualification hopes are not over yet.
As Asia/Pacific finalists, they will take part in the Final Qualifying Tournament in November, a four-team competition with Portugal (Europe 3), Kenya (Africa 2) and USA (Americas 3).
The dates, format and location of the Final Qualifying Tournament will be announced on Monday July 25.