Tonga

New Zealand beat Tonga 47-9

Tonga were arguably the better side early on, dominating the breakdown and scrum and forcing a host of penalties.

However, Ben Smith and prop Tony Woodcock both scored first-half tries to give the All Blacks breathing space.

Nehe Milner-Skudder scored twice before Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Cane and Ma'a Nonu applied some second-half gloss.

The permutations

Tonga prepare to tackle the All Blacks

Losses to Georgia and Argentina have all but ended the Ikale Tahi's hopes of making the knockout rounds.

A bonus-point victory against the defending champions would keep alive Tonga's faint hopes of reaching the quarter finals.

NZ on brink of U20 World Cup berth as Tonga eye first win

The Junior Football Ferns have scored 59 unanswered goals in big wins against Tonga, New Caledonia and Vanuatu at the Oceania Championship in Nuku'alofa, and have a maximum nine points with one match remaining.

Samoa will move to seven points if they can beat Vanuatu this afternoon, which would set up a final round decider against New Zealand, who have a bye today.

However a draw would leave them four points adrift of the leaders, gifting the title to New Zealand.

MSG chair highlight West Papua issue at UNGA

Sogavare's statement is the second statement from the Pacific that has raised concerns of human rights violations in West Papua, with emphasis for the UN to intervene.

Tongan Prime Minister this week also highlighted humanrights abuses facing people of West Papua.

The Solomon Islands Prime Minister informed  UNGA on the developments at the MSG and the Pacific Islands Forum, including the plea to Indonesia to accept unrestricted access to a possible mission of a fact finding mission to West Papua.

Experts predict continuing dry for much of the Pacific

This comes after up to six months of well below normal rainfall had been received.

The forecast from New Zealand's NIWA and the Pacific Islands Meteorological Services says in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, after three months of very dry conditions, below normal rainfall can be expected through to the end of the year.

Missing Tokelauans located by NZ Orion

New Zealand's Rescue Coordination Centre was alerted on Tuesday afternoon that the men were missing after a squall separated a fleet of small fishing boats.

An Orion flew to Tokelau yesterday and found them after a four-hour search.

The Search and Rescue Mission Co-ordinator Mike Roberts says the men had no lifejackets, flares or food, and a single bottle of water between them.

He says it seems they lost sight of land after the squall and headed in the wrong direction.

They have now been returned to Atafu Atoll.

U20 World Cup spot up for grabs for Oceania women

PNG replaced South Africa as World Cup hosts in March, gifting them automatic qualification and a second berth for Oceania.

Hosts Tonga face a tough test in today's opening match against defending Oceania champions New Zealand, who have been on an unbeaten run since 2002.

Coach Penateti Feke was a part of the Tongan team at July's Pacific Games.

She's selected four of her teammates from that event, while nine have experience from last year's Under 20 tournament.

Tonga win 'another step' towards World Cup dream

The side ran in five tries to beat Namibia 35-21 in Exeter and grab their first win of the Rugby World Cup.

Telusa Veainu and Jack Ram were both promoted to the starting line-up because of injuries and made the most of their opportunities, scoring two tries apiece, while Latiume Fosita also dotted down.

The winning margin could have been more, but fullback Vunga Lilo struggled with the kicking duties, landing just three of seven attempts, before Kurt Morath came off the bench to slot a late penalty that made him Tonga's all-time highest points scorer.

Tonga: We can still pin down top-three spot in Pool C

Having been beaten by Georgia in their opening match, the Ikale Tahi – Sea Eagles – had 10 days to lick their wounds before overcoming a spirited Namibia (above) at Sandy Park, Exeter, on Tuesday.

Head coach Mana Otai said they had had three performance goals heading into the game – to win, to take maximum points... and a third which he refused to reveal. Having scored five tries to take five points from the game, he smiled: "We’ll take the first two."

Rugby World Cup 2015: Tonga 35-21 Namibia

Telusa Veainu and Jack Ram crossed for Tonga, but Namibia's Johan Tromp pulled a try back, before Latiume Fosita's try helped Tonga into a 22-7 lead.

Ram got his second score soon after the break to secure Tonga's bonus point, although Namibia captain Jacques Burger was then forced over to keep it close.

But Veainu's second try secured Tonga's first win of this World Cup, despite a late consolation score from Burger.