![\"Kalyn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/kalyn-ponga-celebrates-a-try-with-jahrome-hughes-JMXKDDYYXFFFHIBRS63D4PPDLM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNew Zealand are into their first World Cup final in 13 years after Kalyn Ponga returned from a broken arm to power the Kiwis past Tonga in a 34-10 win.<\/p>\n
At Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium dominated by Tongan flags, Ponga marked his comeback from a 23-day absence with an influential performance in Saturday’s semi-final.<\/p>\n
The Knights’ fullback set up three of the Kiwis’ six tries and pulled off one of the try-saving tackles of the tournament as New Zealand advanced to next Sunday’s final in Brisbane. <\/p>\n
“He’s a freak of a player but you see the defensive mindset he had tonight, where he saved a couple tries there,” said Kiwis skipper James Fisher-Harris.<\/p>\n
“That’s what I love about KP, he’s a freak of nature but I think his leadership skills are very underrated.” <\/p>\n
The Kiwis, who also welcomed back hooker Phoenix Crossland following his lengthy suspension, will learn their opponents on Sunday when Australia face Samoa in the other semi-final. <\/p>\n
On the other side of the coin, this was a missed opportunity for Tonga who have failed to reach a single final across three-straight tournaments.<\/p>\n
Fullback Lehi Hopoate made five errors and the Tongan halves struggled to master the elements, particularly in the second half when they were running into a ferocious wind. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kalyn Ponga celebrates a try with Jahrome Hughes. (Source: AAP)<\/p>\n
This semi-final exit is likely to mark the last chance for Jason Taumalolo – the architect of rugby league’s Pacific revolution – to win a World Cup.<\/p>\n
“It’s a disappointing way to finish, we’ve had an outstanding World Cup and we’re happy with everything they’ve done,” Tonga coach Kristian Woolf said. <\/p>\n
“You can feel the disappointment in there and there’s a bit of a missed opportunity with what the group’s been able to do and how talented the group is.”<\/p>\n
But there remains a chance for New Zealand to become world champions next week after Ponga marked his return with a protective arm guard to send Briton Nikora crashing over after three minutes.<\/p>\n
Tonga soon hit back as Jojo Fifita started and finished one of the most breathtaking tries of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Catching a bomb five metres off his own line, the Gold Coast winger surged through a gap in the Kiwis’ kick chase, linked with Tui Lolohea and Tolu Koula, who burned Joe Tapine and turned the pass back infield for Fifita to score.<\/p>\n
Ponga halted Demitric Vaimauga with an incredible last-gasp tackle to slow Tonga’s charge, before Fifita muscled over on the left for his second of the night.<\/p>\n
Isaiya Katoa couldn’t make the conversion and that was as close as Tonga got to victory.<\/p>\n
As halftime approached, the Kiwis edged ahead 12-10 courtesy of Dane Gagai and never looked back. <\/p>\n
Hopoate was unable to deal with a bouncing ball to the in-goal under pressure from Ponga and Gagai pounced.<\/p>\n
But Tonga were unable to go the distance as Casey McLean, Jahrome Hughes, Xavier Willison and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad moved New Zealand out of sight with second-half tries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand are into their first World Cup final in 13 years after Kalyn Ponga returned from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[213649,65862,50542,30084,68881,33055,16457,4513,26194,118056,26668,36882,320700,37439,564,10931,39643,2065,42725,184176,320701,320702,42,240806,26197,581,26198,219740,320703,3822,320704,26200,320705,43,12908,320706,320707,320708,5296,120556,26203,320709,320710,26205,176558,21675,163504,39660,9640,320711,2554,320712,40,38,41,39,14036,4883],"class_list":["post-654473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-accuracy","tag-baked","tag-basil","tag-beer","tag-bread","tag-cheese","tag-color-image","tag-cooked","tag-cutting-board","tag-dairy-products","tag-fast-food","tag-fast-food-restaurant","tag-flat-bread","tag-focus-on-foreground","tag-food","tag-food-and-drink","tag-freshness","tag-fruit","tag-full-length","tag-ham","tag-ham-and-pineapple-pizza","tag-hawaiian-culture","tag-headlines","tag-high-angle-view","tag-homemade","tag-horizontal","tag-indoors","tag-italian-cuisine","tag-junk-food-fast-food","tag-meat","tag-meat-and-alternatives","tag-mozzarella","tag-neopolitan","tag-news","tag-nobody","tag-parma-ham","tag-parmesan-cheese","tag-pastry-crust","tag-photography","tag-pineapple","tag-pizza","tag-pizzeria","tag-prosciutto","tag-rustic","tag-sauces","tag-selective-focus","tag-silverware","tag-studio-shot","tag-table","tag-take-out-food","tag-thin","tag-tomato-sauce","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-whole","tag-wood"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}