Alas the rain arrives on match day, although it is forecast to relent around four hours before kick-off, while it will remain warm, in the early 20s at least.
This applies even for their quartet of former All Blacks, fullback Salesi Piutau, centre Malakai Fekitoa, scrumhalf Augustine Pulu and number eight Vaea Fifita. And, of course, Piutau is a generational game breaker, who would have won way more than 24 caps for the All Blacks but for moving to the northern hemisphere.
Tonga’s starting XV contains seven players with the Top 14, including an entire frontrow featuring their 151kg captain Ben Tameifuna. No wonder Farrell opted for his best available frontrow. “That is why we’re here,” admitted assistant coach Tyler Bleyendaal, the one-time Munster outhalf. “I think the reality is they are much better, more complete teams than us because they compete at a much higher level of competition more often. But that doesn’t change our ambition, our preparation, to try and knock over all of the teams in our pool.