It has been almost a year since a massive tsunami rocked the tony Pacific nation of Tonga.

The destruction it caused has not been lost on the Tongan players ahead of their opening World Cup clash against Papua New Guinea which will kick off early on Wednesday morning, Australian time.

“The country has gone through that sort of hardship at the start of the year,” Tongan coach Kristian Woolf said.

“And it was not just the tsunami it was Covid and the things that came in the aftermath as well.

“I know that a real motivator for this group is to put a smile back on the people’s faces and making them really proud to be Tongan again. It helps that healing process back home.

“When you look at this group… Jason Taumalolo and the guys who like him who have made a lot of sacrifices and started that trend of players wanting to play for their heritage nations rather than the big nations and make that sacrifice.”