Rugby World Cup: Ex-All Black Vaea Fifita red carded during Tonga’s loss to Scotland

At Stade de Nice, Nice: Scotland 45 (George Turner, Duhan van der Merwe, Kyle Steyn, Rory Durge, George Horne, Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham tries; Finn Russell 5 con) Tonga 17 (Solomone Kata, Ben Tameifuna tries; William Havili 2 con, pen). HT: 24-10.

Yellow card: Afusipa Taumoepeau (Tonga) 34min. Red card: Vaea Fifita (Tonga) 77min

Scotland collected their first win at the World Cup when they beat an ill-disciplined Tonga 45-17 in their World Cup in Nice on Monday morning (NZT).

The Scots scored 7 tries to claim a vital bonus point as they turned-up the heat against a Tongan team that included former All Blacks Salesi (Charles) Piutau, Malakai Fekitoa, Vaea Fifita and Augustine Pulu in its starting line-up.

Discipline was a major problem for Tonga.

No 8 Fifita had a yellow card upgraded to red by the TMO bunker after the match because he rammed his shoulder into the head of Scotland’s Finn Russell in the 77th minute.

It was a crude charge by Fiifta and he will be fortunate to escape a ban ahead of the game against the Springboks next Monday. Wing Afusipa Taumoepeau was yellow carded for a high shot late in the first half.

Both teams entered this fixture on the back of a loss in their first games of the tournament, and with no competition points banked they knew a defeat would seriously damage their chances of qualifying for the quarterfinals.

Ireland and South Africa, having played 3 games each were already on 14 and 10 points respectively in Pool B, but the pressure didn’t encourage Scotland or Tonga to play conservatively.

Unlike the intense slugfest between the Irish and Springboks in Paris a day earlier, the Scots and the Tongans were prepared to take chances under the sun at Stade de Nice.

Tonga trailed 24-10 at halftime. Their sole try in the first spell was scored by ex-NRL player Solomone Kata, an excellent effort down the narrow right-hand channel when offered a glimpse of daylight.

A yellow card to left wing Taumoepeau in the 34th minute could have cost Tonga dearly, had it been upgraded the TMO bunker but it was deemed to not have met the threshold for the red card sanction.

Taumoepeau made contact with the head of Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie in a tackle, as both players dipped into contact and would have been relieved to be permitted to re-enter the action.

With Tonga reduced to 14 men, Scotland called for an attacking scrum when awarded a penalty in front of the sticks, and flanker Rory Durge scampered over for a five-pointer on the stroke of halftime to bring up his side’s fourth try.

Tonga, having been bolstered by the return of Taumoepeau, roared back into contention soon after the re-start when humongous tighthead prop and captain Ben Tameifuna used powerful leg drive and determination to charge over to score.

It was an impressive sight that delighted the crowd, and offered the Tongan supporters hope that they could close the seven-point deficit to draw even with the Scots.

Instead it was the men in blue who struck next, with wing Duhan van der Merwe creating a try for replacement halfback George Horne and, later, Ben Kinghorn and Darcy Graham iced the result by adding tries.

Scotland’s next game is against Romania in Lille on Sunday.