It was a weekend of mixed results for Leicester Tigers players on international duty.
Back rower Valentino Mapapalangi came on as a second-half replacement to help Tonga beat Samoa 28-18, despite finishing the game in Suva with 13 men.
Mapapalangi came off the bench in the 48th minute as Tonga led 17-6. But he had to come off in the 68th minute with the lead at 28-6 to allow a front-row replacement to come on after hooker Sosefo Sakalia was yellow-carded for bringing down a maul.
Tonga finished the game with 13 men after receiving two further yellow cards in the final 10 minutes. Samoa, for whom Logovi’i Mulipola was absent through injury, scored two tries during that period but Tonga had already done enough for victory.
The win gave Tonga a second-place finish in the Pacific Nations Cup behind hosts Fiji, who beat Georgia to record a second victory of the competition and wrap up a fourth consecutive title.
Luke Hamilton has returned home from Scotland’s summer tour after sustaining a shoulder injury in their 30-29 defeat to USA.
Tigers-bound David Denton was a 64th-minute replacement for Scotland during the game in Houston, while prop Chris Baumann came on in the 69th minute for America.
Tries from Joe Taufete’e (2) and Hanco Germishuys gave the USA the lead going into the closing stages.
But USA needed Blair Kinghorn to miss an injury-time conversion following Dougie Fife’s try to record first victory over Scotland and their first win over a tier one nation.
Ben Youngs, George Ford and Jonny May, meanwhile, saw their hopes of an historic series victory in South Africa ended by a 23-12 defeat in the second Test in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Click here for the England match report.
