Tonga coach

The former Wallaby and three of his family members were attacked at their Coorparoo home in Brisbane at about 3:00am on Monday.

Police said the attack was carried out with an axe, a knife and a machete.

Mr Kefu suffered serious injuries and was hospitalised with wounds to his abdomen.

His wife, son and daughter also sustained injuries and underwent surgery.

The alleged offenders – three boys aged 15 and one boy aged 13 – have been arrested and charged with 11 offences each.

Last week the Samoa's Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi declared the Samoa Rugby Union was bankrupt and unable to pay players' wages or pay off their debts.

The SRU subsequently raised almost $US140,000 from a fundraising appeal but Tuilaepa said their financial problems remained an ongoing concern.

Tonga's Rugby Union have their own administration issues, with the board declared null in void last month.

Toutai Kefu said resources were a constant struggle in the Pacific and it tended to be the players who suffered the most.

Woolf's Mate Ma'a downed the Kiwis 28-22 in Hamilton on Saturday, becoming the first tier-two league nation in history to defeat a tier-one nation.

Their achievement is made all the more remarkable by the limited resources afforded to Pacific Island league nations, with the Tongan players expected to subsist on minimal match payments, a basic $30 per diem and no victory bonuses.

By comparison, players for tier-one sides Australia, New Zealand and England could make up to $50,000 throughout the five-week World Cup.