EOYT: Scotland vs Tonga, 24/11/2012

[Aoniu]

In my thoughts Mana Otai's set out on this tour to see what he has to work with in terms of all those players nearing the end of their international careers due to age and form though this team may resemble the 2011 world cup team. His management were keen on seeing if any of these players still had a world cup in them.

Their is one thing that shone for me was TEAM CULTURE and this has to be made from scratch in most cases with teams that don't have the luxuries to hold camps weeks prior to matches/tours that some do.Allowing players more time with each other on and off the field is key.

Their is some promising factors to pickup from this tour the fact that most of the older players showed their is still some fight in them ,players maturing over the tour and that we can see the potential of the core group of players. Beating Scotland ,pushing Italy to the limit shows they have what it takes to compete at tier 1 level.In terms of team play things seem to be coming along.

One thing discipline was a bit on the lee side and not because they were ill disciplined they were just letting things slip in most cases and fitness is apart of this.

In the near future I would like to see this team culture be carried in to future Comps and tours and good mix of old new players.This tours results and future results will have a lot of effect on Potential future Tongan players showing their allegiance to Tonga.

Overall as a proud Tongan, Pacific Islander Rugby Supporter I am immensely happy with how the tour went under new management.

 

[psychic duck]

Firstly, Great Win by Tonga

Secondly, Remember we're a tier two team so we will make mistake but that's just a part of our growth, with more games like this we will be able do play with the big boys.

Tonga will build on this Win, I'm really happy with the direction Mana 'Otai is taking the team and when the Pacific Nation Cups comes around next year Tonga Samoa and Fiji rugby will improve alot so watch out six nation we are slowly catching up, Last year France went down to Tonga, Last week Italy escape with a win (i still think the last try by italy was a knock on) wales lost to Samoa, today well you know the story and with Samoa vs France coming up.

Those errors I highlighted are nothing to do with being a Tier 2 team. An U13's side should be able to know those basics, never mind a Tier 2 team. Tonga could have made more sure of the victory if they didn't do those basic stupid things, they got away with them, but they could have cost them on another day.

It doesn't take a genius to be able to work out it is a good idea to score underneath the posts to make the kick easier. Nor does it take a genius to work out that throwing a guy on his back and getting yourself sin binned when you have a penalty and there are just a couple of minutes left is a good idea, or that you ought to kick the ball out when the clock is past 80 rather than keeping running.

 

[AfakasiAssasin]

Great win for Tonga. I must agree though they definatly had alot of moments of madness that couldve and shouldve cost them the game. Cracked up at the commentator calling the action in the last minute when they tried to run it out of the 22 in extra time then Piukala with the 'what the hell was he thinking?' behind the back pass.
Vainikolo owning Visser for the try was the highlight of the game. Well done Ikale Tahi. Another big upset and a great result for Pacific Island rugby.

 

[Gavin]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/20484998

Robinson quits as coach. Fair enough I would as well if I was in charge of Scotland.

 

[rugbykags]

i was surprised when i read robinson had quit, i know they got beat against all blacks but they played a good game. who is gonna takeover now?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I reckon Scotland will go downhill because of this.

 

[cyRil]

I reckon Scotland will go downhill because of this.

Bloody hell, how far down does this hill go?!

 

[psychic duck]

Robinson going is bad for Scotland imo.

Unless they can get one of the top coaches in world rugby like Schmidt, Mallet, Henry etc (which I doubt they will be able to) then I don't see them moving on from the point Robinson took them.

The fact that the bookies favourite to take over the job is Scott Johnson says it all.

 

[Big Ewis]

hey, I got nothin to say, we just lost to em in the RWC a year ago !!

 

[LittleGuy]

Bloody hell, how far down does this hill go?!

Scotland should be very worried about Georgia, Canada, a resurgence in Fiji and the United States. It wouldn't surpirse me at all if we saw Scotland finish 4th in their pool at the next RWC, they nearly lost all their games last time round and had to rely on some breaks against Georgia and a late charge against Romania.

The only plan the SRU seems to have at the moment is use Glasgow and Ediburgh to bring in project players and wait three years till their eligible.

 

[Dougydeluxe]

Nothing is looking good for Scotland now. I have not even seen the game yet, but I am not sure I want to. Robinson leaving will not help Scotlands cause, he was a good coach and lead to great victories over big teams...

The wooden spoon might just become the Scotland spoon.

 

[psychic duck]

Nothing is looking good for Scotland now. I have not even seen the game yet, but I am not sure I want to. Robinson leaving will not help Scotlands cause, he was a good coach and lead to great victories over big teams...

The wooden spoon might just become the Scotland spoon.

Italy have their own problems to deal with too though.

They might be okay in the short term, but if you look closely at the Italian squad, they may suffer a mass retirement of their team post RWC 2015, where Lo Cicero, Ghiraldini, Castrogiovanni, Geldenhuys, Zanni, Parisse, Barbieri, Orquera, Bergamasco and Masi will all be over at least 31 years of age after that tournament. And Italy will have to go through a big rebuilding phase if they all retire/decline in a short period of a couple of years.

They still can't find a fly half for the long term, and are resorting to try and sign foreigners to plug this gap. And unlike say Argentina who have had some good results at Junior level, Italy were relegated from the JWC this year. And with the exception of Simone Favaro, they haven't produced a new forward of note for about 6 years, as a result they have been playing pretty much the same pack for about 6 years now.

At least Scotland have found players such as Richie Gray, Dave Denton in the last couple of years, they might not exactly be producing tonnes of talent, but how many Italian forwards of note are there under the age of 23?. However the fact that Scotland are resorting to signing players like Nel, Strauss, Maitland to play for them doesn't speak much for their up and coming talent though.

 

[Dougydeluxe]

Well Italy did do a great job of snaking a forward from Canada, can't remember his name but pretty sure he is around 21-24 years and only getting better.

You are correct with the fact that Scotland still has a decent youth program, while Italy is lacking. But Italy has far more upside as they have been in the Six Nations for a shorter time, and only recently joined the Celtic league, so rugby growth for them is far greater than Scotland.

The future of Scotland is not all bad, but losing Andy is still tough, I liked his vision and commitment to a cause. He wanted to make Scotland a total rugby team, not just one off winners cause the forwards had a great day and the Kicker made every kick.