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By Lee Stace

WHEN PLAYERS in the Samoan and Tongan squads dissect their respective Rugby World Cup campaigns in the coming days, they will look back, shake their heads and think ‘what if?’

A lot was made – and expected – of these two Pacific Island teams, mainly because of Samoa’s sensational upset win against the Wallabies in Sydney in July and Tonga’s heroics on rugby’s big stage four years ago in France.

And with the tournament being held in New Zealand, a virtual home base for these two teams given the large number of Samoans and Tongans living in Aotearoa, there was hope that these two teams would rattle a few cages.

Unfortunately, it never happened, with both Samoa and Tonga underperforming and failing to make it past the pool stage.

Granted, the Manu was superb in its final pool match against South Africa, pushing the defending champions hard before going down 13-5 at North Harbour Stadium last Friday.

But against Wales it played within itself, opting to abandon its natural attacking instincts for a game plan that relied heavily upon structure and the pick and go.

Had it shown the same attacking endeavour it showed against the Boks in its crucial pool match against Wales, then Samoa may well be preparing itself for a quarter-final showdown against Ireland in Wellington this Saturday.

It was a similar situation for Tonga, who will be ruing its loss to Canada as it ultimately cost it a playoffs berth. Coach Isitola Maka got his selection horribly wrong for that game and his side paid the ultimate price for its lacklustre effort.

The Ikale Tahi at least finished their tournament on a high by tipping over an out-of-sorts France in Wellington last Saturday.

But given Tonga had nothing to lose, why on earth did it not chance its arm and try for the four-try bonus point?

Maybe it thought automatic 2015 RWC qualification was a more tangible goal. But with France offering nothing for much of the match, a prime opportunity to secure second position in Pool A went begging.

But that has been the story of Samoa’s and Tonga’s tournament in 2011, hasn’t it?

Posted Comments

Erika

09-04-2013
12:31:57

This world cup has been brilliant for the monniws'. It's about time the IRB and Big 8 Nations let them take part in world rugby more than just letting them make up the numbers once every 4 years.Georgia, Namibia, Romania, USA, Canada, Samoa, Portugal etc have all done brilliantly well and it was such a shame Georgia didn't beat Ireland. How good would that have been.It's time to expand the tri nations and 6 nations. Currently there is a 6 nations b tournament for teams like Georgia, Romania, Portugal, Russia etc compete in but that's as far as they are allowed to go. Why not expand the 6 Nations to 8 Nations and have a playoff every year between the last placed team in the 8 Nations and the Top team in the 8 Nations b. While we are at it get the USA and Canada involved. They are northern hemisphere nations after all. Maybe have Georgia and Canada in the 8 Nations A and add USA to 8 Nations B. The USA and Canada are about to set up a north American professional league anyway. Having them in the 6 nations set up would increase the profile of rugby there and help turn them into true professionals. They would also bring some great fans to the event. I was at the Canada v Fiji game today in Cardiff and it was full of Canadian rugby fans. They love it!Argentina have to play in the Tri Nations. It looks like they will reach the 1/2 finals of the Rugby World Cup and from there who knows. It's a crime they have not been asked to join already and I don't think SANZAR will every let them or anyone else as they want all the money for themselves. Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and Japan must also be involved in the Tri Nations and Super 14 as well.In Europe we need to set up a European League to replace the Guinness Premiership, Celtic League, French Top 14, Italian Super 10 and Heineken Cup with all the clubs split into different conferences (like American Footballs NFL) Less games but of Higher quality (just look how poor the 6 Nations have been in this World Cup and it's easy to see our domestic Leagues are not helping us) Also allow Georgia, Romania, Portugal, Russia etc to enter 1 professional franchise each into the Euro League.Come on IRB and Big 8. Have the guts and give international rugby a kick up the backside!

dodger

08-10-2011
12:14:47

all teams should have the same time between games its simple as that. you cant help believing the irb dont want to risk embarressment of a minnow beating a northern hem team. you just have to do your talking on the field. as more tongan and samoans play pro rugby and pledge allegiance to their countries instead of oz or nz theyll slowly become quarter and semi finalists.......

REDS05

06-10-2011
21:32:37

There draw is not equitable. AB's are given 7days rest between games. Top nations can afford to play with limited rest due to the dept of their squad unlike the minnows. Had both Tonga and Samoa had a decent rest I believe they would've acquitted themselves a lot better. Tonga had 7days rest for the last two games and the results speaks for themselves. Samoa had similar results in game three and four. I was lucky enough to be at six games including the opening and Whangarei was the highlight. NZ is a beautiful country. Go the Wallabies!

Shahsan

06-10-2011
16:12:27

The reason Samoa played "within themselves" against Wales was because they had three days' rest compared with Wales' 7. Besides the players being less fresh all around, the crucial point was that they were without flyhalf Tusi Pisi, whose hamstring injury probably needed a few more days' recovery. Instead they played with an inferior flyhalf, who not only failed to spark the backline but also made several mistakes and gave away 2-3 penalties. The blame is on the schedule and a bad ref's call with Maurie's try. In no way was Wales the clearly better team.

nanamukatula

05-10-2011
04:30:19

congratulations tonga and samoa, the pride of the pacific! both teams showed how ferocious they are when they play off their strength, the set piece. for tonga, those multiple scrums in the 2nd half vs the ab's made their opponents look 2nd rate! both teams ability to pick and drive and maintain possession whilst sustaining pressure, got taumalolo the try vs the ab's... awesome! manu samoa were consistent in all games, and in a lesser pool would be preparing for a Q/F game. both nations need frequent tests vs tier 1 nations to improve their standard of test match rugby.

JJ Harmse

04-10-2011
16:09:51

I agree with you 100%. They failed themselves.

Stephen Yetman

04-10-2011
12:27:02

Tonga, Samoan and even Fiji should have done better in the RWC than they have. Tonga should have beaten Canada and Samoa had every chance to beat Wales. The sad thing is if they had they would have got a lot of support in the quarter finals. Tonga got unbelievable support in Wellington against France. The RWC organisers have to look at the time between matches for the minnows compared to the major nations. One idea may be to reduce the number of teams to sixteen with four pools of four teams and scheduling the tournament over seven weeks.

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