Tonga ‘fixated’ on RWC playoffs
Tonga coach Toutai Kefu has a strong message for his men selected for the Rugby World Cup: ‘‘We’re not there to be merely making up the numbers’’.
Kefu unveiled his squad in Hamilton yesterday, and with it, a bold declaration that they are setting their sights firmly on a historic playoff berth, despite being grouped in what looms as the toughest pool of the four for the global showpiece in Japan.
Finishing in the top three of the five-team pools secures automatic qualification for 12 teams for France 2023, but Kefu – the 60-test former Wallabies No 8 who took up the Tonga coaching role three years ago – has set his group’s sights higher than that.
‘‘No, I’m fixated on making the playoffs,’’ he said.
‘‘We need to win three games for that.
‘‘We’re in a tough pool, there’s no doubt about it. We just need to get together and believe in what we’re doing, and believe that we can make it. And I certainly think we can.’’
Tonga have been knocked out in pool play in every previous World Cup appearance – 1991 being the only event they failed to qualify for.
This year, in Pool C, they face England, Argentina, France and the United States, in that order. So it’s one heck of a mountain to climb, even if there have been a couple of wins over France in the past, notably at the 2011 World Cup.
Tonga lost 29-19 to Fiji at Eden Park in Auckland last Saturday and in the Pacific Nations Cup prior to that they lost 25-17 to Samoa in Apia and 41-7 to Japan in Higashiosaka, before beating Canada 33-23 in Lautoka.
‘‘We’re confident in the way we’re going at the moment,’’ Kefu said. ‘‘Even though we had a loss last week there’s some really really good stuff that we did. And we’ve come a long way just in the two weeks we’ve had since the PNC.’’
Kefu said the squad was only finalised after a lengthy meeting on Sunday night, with the two players cut from their 33-man travelling party staying on this week, as Tonga prepare for Saturday’s test against the All Blacks in Hamilton, which Kefu said was ideal for what lay ahead.
They didn’t want their preparation, for players or coaches, to be easy.
‘‘We’ve got four tier one games in a row, including this one. We’ve never had that before. We’re always asking World Rugby for more tier one games, and we’ve got it.’’