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13th October 2019
09:25am BST

The second half kicked off and eight minutes in, Tonga had a penalty – Takulua made no mistake as the deficit was cut to two points.
58 minutes in and Tonga took the the lead for the second time in the game courtesy of a try from Hingano. Veainu cleared most of the US defence with an overhead kick before Hingano eventually gathered to finish off a quick move. The conversion was missed for a score of 12-17 to Tonga.
Entering the final quarter, Tonga pulled away as skipper Siale Piutau got in on the act to score a momentous try in his last ever game. Faiva grabbed the conversion as Tonga took a comfortable lead.
77 minutes in and the it was the USA's turn to get on the scoresheet – Lamborn was the guilty party before McGinty smashed home the conversion for a tense score of 19-24 to Tonga.
In the 80th minute, with seconds left in the game, Tonga secured the result after Veainu pounced on a grubber to score the decisive try. With the added conversion, the final score read 19-31 to Tonga.
And so it finished at the Hanazono Stadium with both sets of fan being treated to an end-to-end, dramatic game. Tonga did well to secure the win today maintaining their record of notching up at least one win in every WC going back to 2003.
The USA meanwhile have lost their 10th WC game in a row but their performance was spirited and they've done their fans proud with today's performance. AJ McGinty in particular has seen his profile boosted after completing some impressive performances in the tournament and they can only hope to keep building, working and training to return stronger in four years' time.
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