Wales to get taste of Tonga's greatest hits

Tongan coach Jim Love has promised Wales a bruising encounter in Canberra tomorrow.

Steve Hansen's Welsh side have been installed as heavy favourites for the Pool D clash after cruising past Canada in their opening match as Tonga were losing to Italy by a surprisingly wide margin.

However, Love believes the South Sea islanders let themselves down against the Italians and has assured Hansen and his men they will revert to type in an effort to get their World Cup campaign back on track.

"All the Polynesian sides are known for their big hits," said Love. "But for some reason we slid off our tackles against Italy. I can assure everyone we won't be doing that against Wales. They can expect some pretty big hits."

While Hansen is in the happy position of being able to shuffle his squad, making eight changes from last week's win, Love's resources are badly stretched.

Skipper Inoke Afeaki has already been ruled out with knee ligament damage, while Love reports at least four of his starting line-up will go into the game carrying injuries.

"We'll leave Inoke for two or three days to see how he responds to treatment but we are in a difficult situation because there is a lot of pressure on us to perform from the people in Tonga," he said. "Everyone is watching the games on TV and hoping and believing we can win.

"We believe there is enough talent in the squad to reach the quarter-finals although after Wednesday's result, it is going to be hard for us."

Hansen will give six players their World Cup bow, with star centre Iestyn Harris, who has again been linked with a big-money move back to rugby league, among those rested.

There are three new faces in the front five, with prop Iestyn Thomas, hooker Mefin Davies and lock Robert Sidoli all included, along with fly-half Stephen Jones. Former captain Mark Taylor has been recalled to fill the vacancy left by Harris.

While Wales will be confident of extending their winning run and setting up a qualification decider with Italy next week, there will be one familiar face to overcome in Tongan scrumhalf Sililo Martens, who plays his club rugby for the hybrid side Celtic Warriors.

"A lot of the Welsh team are good mates of mine," he admitted. "They are nice guys generally and I am really close to a couple of them. That won't change anything on Sunday though. I'm sure they are expecting a physical game and that is what they will get."

TONGA: P Hola; S Fonua, S Hufanga, J Payne, T Tu'ifua; S Tui'ipolutu, S Martens; K Pulu, V Ma'asi, H Lavaka, U Latu, V Vaki, I Fenukitau, S Afeaki, B Kivalu (capt). Replacements: E Taufaka, T Lea'aetoa, M Ngauamo, N Naufahu, D Palu, G Leger, S Va'enuku.

WALES: R Williams; M Jones, M Taylor, S Parker, T Shanklin; S Jones, G Cooper; A Popham, C Charvis (captain), D Jones, R Sidoli, G Llewellyn, G Jenkins, M Davies, I Thomas.Replacements: H Bennett, A Jones, C Wyatt, M Williams, D Peel, I Harris, G Evans.