Scotland fought back late on to win their opening match at the Rugby League World Cup, beating Tonga 26-24 this evening.
Tonga broke the deadlock after nine minutes as Glen Fisi'iahi picked out a gap in Scotland's defense to find the try line, but efforts from Matty Russell, Ben Fisher and Brett Carter, plus a Danny Brough penalty gave Scotland a comfortable 20-4 lead at the break.
The Tongans fought back after the break, with Sika Manu adding his first of two tries during the match, before Nafe Seluini also went over.
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After having two tries ruled out by the video referee, Manu managed to add a second to leave his side just two points behind the Scots, before Willie Manu collected the ball following a lengthy run from Daniel Topou to put Tonga back in front.
Russell managed to force his way through the Tongan defence eight minutes from full time to add Scotland's only points of the second half and put them back ahead.
Daniel Foster thought that he had added a sixth try of the match for Tonga late on, but it was not awarded after replays showed that the ball had not been grounded.
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