Tongan star Jason Taumalolo rips through the Kiwis defence during their last clash at the 2018 World Cup.

OPINION: The New Zealand Rugby league should drop the looming Denver test and re-engage Tonga to cash in on their building rivalry.

It's obvious the altitude test against England in the United States is a lemon before a ball has even been kicked.

When you have the NRL, its clubs and the players union seriously questioning the sense of the Denver test in the middle of the year, someone needs to take notice.

Why are the Kiwis playing England again anyway? And why do New Zealand play Australia so often when there are increasingly worthy alternatives?

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In a sport guilty of lacking depth at international level, the reluctance to address that is embarrassing.

GETTY IMAGES Kiwis star Shaun Johnson passing under pressure against Tonga.

Tonga were the stars of the last Rugby League World Cup but they probably won't resurface in all seriousness until the next tournament.

On the same day that the Kiwis play England in the US, Tonga will be playing Samoa in Sydney, another all-islands affair that does little to escape the feeling of a second-tier fixture.

Bigger things should beckon for Tonga right now. They deserve it after being the World Cup upstarts last year.

Who knows what sorts of commercial arrangements are in place for rugby league to try to get a foothold in the American market ahead of the 2025 World Cup there with this Denver fixture?

But there's little doubt a New Zealand v Tonga match could attract a bigger crowd without all the unnecessary fuss of long-distance travel smack, bang in the middle of the club season.

Heck, why not do New Zealand v Tonga on a home and away basis?

With Tonga having beaten New Zealand 28-22 just last November and so much feeling between the two camps, it's hard to see a rematch not being a success as a promotion.

Surely the match sells itself. It looks as competitive now as it did six months ago when the Tongan faithful turned stadiums in New Zealand and Australia into a sea of red with their passionate support.

Tonga needs game time as much as New Zealand do right now with the Kiwis set to start a rebuild following the sacking of coach David Kidwell who has been replaced by Australian Michael Maguire.

Maguire suddenly finds himself facing a compromised start to his Kiwis assignment.

Given the increasingly poor feedback around the Denver fixture from the various stakeholders, Maguire looks sure to find himself with an under-strength squad just when he should be looking to make his mark with his best available players.

League should be applauded for trying to expand its horizons and the US presents a tempting market, one that rugby is also desperate to exploit and is already a couple of steps ahead of the 13-man code.

But it looks like league is being a bit too ambitious with this project.

There are easier – and more worthy – alternatives. Rather than looking over the horizon, league might be better off looking in its own backyard and using its major test teams to help nurture the Pacific talent it increasingly relies on.