Kangaroos ready to embrace red sea of Tongan fans

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Kangaroos ready to embrace red sea of Tongan fans

Australia are ready to embrace the red sea of Tongan fans at Parramatta, preparing to feel like an away team in State of Origin for their Pacific Cup final.

Tonga’s 25-24 win over New Zealand on Saturday night in Auckland was immediately labelled an instant classic, putting the visitors into their first tier-one final.

Beyond the result, scenes of players crying during the national anthem and the crowd breaking into a hymn in the second half headlined the fixture.

Officials are hopeful of something close to a sell out at the 30,000-seat CommBank Stadium, which doubles as the Kangaroos’ first Test in Sydney in seven years.

But it’s entirely likely Tonga will be the more supported side.

Pacific Test matches in western Sydney have previously sold well, while the red sea of fans in Auckland on Saturday night will only add to the groundswell of support.

“It will be a sea of red again. I think they are expecting a pretty big crowd there, close to a sell out,” said Australia’s Ben Hunt.

“I reckon it’s awesome, I really do. The Tongan community love supporting their team. It’s going to be amazing, the noise and whole atmosphere.

“It’s going to be like an Origin match I reckon. They love cheering and being loud.

“It’s amazing for the game, really exciting. The Tongan fans really love getting behind their team.”

Hunt admitted even he found himself cheering for Tonga on Saturday night, joining the bandwagon of support for the rise of the Pacific nations.

But he is also well aware of the task it could leave the Kangaroos facing on Sunday evening.

Hunt has a chance of coming onto Australia’s side for the final, with Cameron Murray out with a broken wrist injury.

But if the 34-year-old does play off the bench or start at *******, he will also face the prospect of having to deal with a pack he believes is “pretty close” to the biggest and best in rugby league.

Addin Fonua-Blake and Jason Taumalolo were dominant for Tonga on Saturday night, while Haumole Olakau’atu broke tackles for fun against Australia last month.

“You look at all the guys there, it would be hard to pick a forward pack as good as that,” Hunt said.

“It could be a tough task. They’ve got some of the best forwards in the world all in the same team.

“They don’t just run at you either, they have guys like Addin and Jase who have great feet. They can pass and do it all. It’s tough to slow down.”

Kangaroos prop Pat Carrigan also said he expected to feel like the away team, after heavy Tongan support when the teams met in Brisbane last month.

“To have 40,000 Tongan and Aussie fans, there was a lot of red there, it makes the game special and sharing cultures is important in our game,” he said.

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