[November Tests 2016 EOYT] Tonga vs. USA (19/11/2016)

[TRF_heineken]

Venue: Stade d'Anoeta
Time: 17:00 CAT (SA, GMT+2)​

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

The knives already seem to be out for Mitchell with US fans despite an improved second half last week and an okay Americans rugby championship. He criticises PRO Rugby's fitness and the Americas championship not having an Argentine first XV, despite these being the two best things to ever happen to US rugby. Plus he plays 7s players. All in all I find him a bit weird. I could see the US losing even if Tonga is inexperienced again like they apparently were last week.

 

[Tautahi]

The main thing i'm happy for is they know what winning is like now. So they would be confident for the match against a good Italy. It is really important to build a winning culture especially since this squad is inexperienced.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Some game of rugby this was! At least for the first 60mins it was even more open than the Spain game on what looks like a pretty massive pitch. Tonga would have been out of sight in the first half but for the disallowed try (one of several lovely moves in the first half). The US are horribly inconsistent at the moment, even within the same 80mins and somehow seem to be a completely different side in second halfs, so its hard to gauge Tonga's level. But if this is a Tongan team in transition I'd be cautiously optimistic if I was you. They seem to be well drilled and know exactly what they should be doing offensively.

If the Italy game was in a neutral venue then I'd think you could spring the upset. Italy were outstanding in many aspects yesterday but were very poor in broken play (which is your strong suit). I'll definitely be tuning in and if O'Shea uses it as an opportunity to experiment with a few new faces (as he probably should) then the result is far from certain.