Tonga are unlikely to beat New Zealand on the rugby field but their arrival in Auckland on Monday trumped the All Blacks welcome as fans of the Pacific Islanders brought roads around the airport to a standstill.

Expatriates dressed in red, some with faces painted, flooded the airport at Auckland, which has the largest Polynesian population in the world, to welcome their rugby side who open the World Cup against the All Blacks at Eden Park on Friday.     

    Auckland mayor Len Brown took to the stage and addressed the thronging crowd, but the biggest cheer was for the team when they performed their pre-match challenge — the sipi tau.     

    The thousands of people that swarmed on the airport appeared to outnumber the big crowd the All Blacks drew for their welcome ceremony at Aotea Square on Saturday.     

    Tonga’s media conference was delayed by over an hour as the team struggled to get to their hotel in Auckland through the traffic the fans had created.     

    “Today arriving at the airport made me really proud to be a Tongan,” captain Finau Maka told reporters.

“Just seeing the Tongan community. I actually thought we were landing in (Tongan capital) Nuku’alofa. It was just awesome to see.”         

    Tonga, a tiny island nation in the south Pacific with a population of just over 100000, has a proud history of producing top-quality rugby players such as former Wellington and Hurricanes lock Inoke Afeaki, but have never qualified for the knockout stages at a World Cup.     

    They face a tough task escaping Pool A with matches against Pacific Nations champions Japan, Canada and twice runners-up France after the daunting World Cup opener on Friday.     

    “I don’t think we can compete with the All Blacks the way Australia and South Africa did. We have our own strengths and we’re going to play to them,” Tonga coach Isitolo Maka said.     

    All Blacks’ loose forward Jerome Kaino, who was born in American Samoa, said he thought the support for the Tongan team was good for the tournament.     

    “I think it’s good for the island nations. I think some of the games will be like a home game for them,” Kaino told reporters.     

    However, it wasn’t just Tonga fans singing and dancing in Auckland on Monday.      

    A flash mob struck in the city’s central business district performing the All Blacks pre-match haka as local excitement grows about the biggest sporting event the country has hosted.