'Goosebumps': Tongan war dance, spirited crowd take Brad Fittler's breath away
The war dance performed by Tonga and the reception it received ahead of the men's Pacific Cup final on Sunday just about had CommBank Stadium shaking.
Soaking up the surreal scenes on sideline commentary duties for Nine, Kangaroos great Brad Fittler said he had "goosebumps".
Led by South Sydney's Siliva Havili ahead of the clash with Australia, the Tongan team's pride in the tiny island nation was palpable in a stirring rendition of the Sipi Tau, which played out in front of a heaving CommBank Stadium full of red.
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"It was so fascinating firstly watching the players walk out," Fittler said on the Nine broadcast.
"Even to the surprise of them, [there is] so much red. The whole upper case, the whole upper tier of the stadium is full of red.
"Then I watch them stand there and listen to their national anthem, then to go through their war dance and the crowd reacted to the war dance.
"I just had goosebumps, goosebumps the entire time.
"This is quite the scene. The atmosphere I've never seen before or felt before.
"The start of this game is going to explode."
Tonga performing the Sipi Tau. Getty
As Havili led his teammates in a Sipi Tau rendition also featuring NRL stars Addin Fonua-Blake, Jason Taumalolo and Daniel Tupou, the Australians watched on arm-in-arm.
Cronulla flyer Sione Katoa then grabbed the opening points of the match when he scored on the right wing in the seventh minute.
But the Kangaroos hit back with first-half tries scored by Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Xavier Coates and Tom Trbojevic to take a 14-4 lead into the break.
The Kangaroos won the match 20-14.
