Wales had encountered Tonga, then a little known side, on a 1986 tour to the South Pacific. Wales won 15-7 but not before a hard fight, quite literally. Early on in the match flanker Mark Brown was trampled by three Tongan forwards. What followed can only be described as a mass brawl involving the entire team (except Malcolm Dacey and Mark Titley). Adrian Hadley was carried off-field after being knocked out cold. Wales and Lions scrum half Robert Jones described the event in his book Raising The Dragon as "the worst brawl I have ever seen on a rugby field".

In a positive start for Wales, Glen Webbe touched down after four minutes. His second came following a Mark Ring chip into the corner but contained an element of doubt. The Wales winger seemed to clip the corner flag, yet the touch judge confirmed that it was a try and Paul Thorburn converted to take the score to 10-0. Wales lost fly half Malcolm Dacey twenty minutes into the encounter; replacement Jonathan Davies came onto the field and seemed to restore a sense of composure within the Wales's ranks.

Thorburn added to Wales's tally with a penalty but his counterpart Aasaeli Amone replied with the same to put the Tongans on the scoreboard. Wales's third try of the game followed; Robert Jones gained the ball and noticed the undefended left corner, he chipped the ball for Mark Ring to collect and pass out to Hadley to score.

Wales failed to build on their start and their performance became strewn with errors. Five minutes into first-half injury time the Tongans notched their first try, scored by Kutusi Fielea, bringing the score to 17-7.

Wales's control of the game dissipated during the second half and their play lacked direction, but further scores followed. Thorburn gained another penalty while Jonathan Davies notched a drop goal before Webbe gained his hat-trick of tries. However, this was only achieved following a head-high tackle courtesy of fullback Tali Ete'aki. Webbe, who was suffering from severe concussion, cannot recall his scoring of the third try to this date.

Instruction from the IRFB dictated that players, following concussion, had to have a three week recuperation period. Webbe later learned that he had played his final match of the 1987 Rugby World Cup. So too, had front row forward Stuart Evans, who flew home from the tournament with his right leg in plaster.

Further injuries to Wales acquired in the match included Huw Richards, neck injury, and Robert Jones, who injured his ribs; both joined Webbe and Evans on their jaunt to the hospital. The Tongans were not without loss either, losing fly half Amone and prop Hakatoa Tupou with leg injuries.

During the ten minutes of injury time, incurred due to the many stoppages, Talai Fifita scored a try and centre Alamoni Liava'a converted, adding two points to his earlier three gained from a penalty.

It was the first occasion that Wales had played an international match wearing green jerseys, and ahead of the game with Canad, had incurred many injury worries.