SOURCE: sport.guardian.co.uk

Pressure from the International Rugby Board seems to have ended Tonga's plans to play tonight's key World Cup match with England with green hair.

All of the match-day 22 had agreed to have their hair dyed as a thank-you to their Irish bookmaker sponsor, but sources close to the team said there had been a re-think after an IRB representative visited the Tongan management at the team's hotel in Saint-Cloud.

A hasty re-styling was ordered, but not before several players had appeared at their final training session and press conference with T-shirts wrapped around their heads.

The Tongans dyed their hair, to a greater or lesser degree extent - Finau Maka was said to have too much for the hairdresser to cope with - when the Rugby World Cup would not accept that Epi Taione, formerly of Sale and Newcastle, had legally changed his name to Paddy Power.

The bookmaker had bankrolled some of the cost of training camps for the cash-strapped side and also their bills after three weeks at a £40-a-night hotel just outside Montpeller.

However there will be plenty of green heads at the Parc des Princes this evening.

Five hours before kick-off a consignment of 2,000 wigs arrived in Saint-Cloud for distribution to Tongan families, friends and fans.

Tonight's match will decide whether England or Tonga go through to a quarter-final in Marseille next week.