Queensland have made history in their first ever women’s international tour clash, defeating Tonga's Lofa 65-0 in Nuku’alofa.
The Reds’ Test contingent shone brightly at Teufaiva Stadium with two-try centre Mel "Milkman" Wilks and prop Eva Karpani starring while recent Wallaroos debutant Nat Wright added plenty of spark from the ruck base.
Ivania Wong also wreaked havoc in her 30th Queensland cap while co-captain Carola Kreis stole the show with a hat-trick of tries to anchor her side’s historic win.
Kreis paid tribute to her Tongan rivals and teammate Wong after the full-time hooter.
“We’re just really honoured to be here,” Kreis told media post-game.
“We’re really privileged that Tonga invited us here and it’s just so nice to immerse ourselves in the culture.
“Vani is someone that embodies the Queensland spirit so well, she plays with her heart and she’s got a lot of passion for the game and you know she’s always got your back on the field.”
It took just five minutes for the Reds to open their account through Wilks, who scooted 20 metres past the retreating Lofa defence from a quick tap penalty to dot down first at Teufaiva Sports Stadium.
Tonga held the Queenslanders at bay for the next 15 minutes with Lori Cramer and Caitlin Urwin going close before a tighthead scrum finally cracked the hosts, Cramer latching onto the turnover and combining with Wong for a well-worked try.
Fellow Wallaroo Tiarna Molloy was next to strike in the 32nd minute, finishing off a sustained Reds attack on the Lofa line to post a 15-0 half time lead.
From there, the floodgates opened with Wilks slicing apart the hosts with another solo try from 30m out shortly after oranges before Karpani extended their advantage through another rolling maul try.
Kreis finished off a well-worked team try in the 60th minute to push the margin even further and the Reds raised their bat when April Ngatupuna barrelled over from a five-metre scrum five minutes later.
From there, Queensland set about entertaining the crowd with debutants Tess Littleton and Mercedez Taulelei-Siala icing long-range tries before Kreis completed her hat-trick in the dying minutes.
The Queensland-Tonga tour was made possible by the support of the Australian government’s PacificAus Sport program.
The PacificAus Sports program also enables access high-performance coaching in Australia and internationally while partnering with Australians national sports organisations to support regional development.
An advance party of Queensland Rugby staff - assisted by Wallabies legend George Smith - have already been out in force this week delivering clinics across the Kingdom of Tonga - while the inclusion of a women's fixture against the Tongan Lofa aligns with PacificAus ethos of providing equal opportunity to and advancing women's sport.
