Tonga's Pita Ahki not concerned about officiating v Ireland

Tonga's Pita Ahki says he believes his side will get fair treatment from the officials when they take on Ireland at the Rugby World Cup on Saturday.

Some controversial officiating in Fiji's narrow defeat to Wales on Friday led to calls that Tier 2 nations are refereed stricter than the top sides in the world, with those accusations being led by Daniel Leo, CEO of the Pacific Rugby Welfare group.

Toulouse centre Ahki previously questioned the consistency of how smaller nations are treated, following his teammate George Moala was given a five-week ban (reduced from 10) following a red card in their World Cup warm-up game against Canada this summer.

The former Connacht centre has rowed back on those comments ahead of their World Cup opener against Ireland in Nates on Saturday, and says he believes they will be treated fairly by referee Wayne Barnes.

"From my point of view we can control what we can control," he told RTÉ Sport.

"The officials are trying to do their best, they've got to make quick decisions on the field, sometimes they'll get it wrong, sometimes they’ll get it right, some calls will go your way and sometimes it won’t.

"You just have to live with it, if it doesn’t go away, the pain will go away over time. The officials are doing what they can, so I can see both sides."

The 30-year-old is quite familiar with the players he will line up opposite on Saturday. In five seasons at Toulouse, he's come up against all four Irish provinces a combined 13 times, winning nine of those games and scoring four tries, the most recent in his side's Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Leinster in May.

In a parallel world, the centre could be Bundee Aki's midfield partner at Connacht, having played eight games for the province in the