Kidwell denies heat is on Kiwis
Coach David Kidwell denies the pressure is ramping up on him or his side, despite the Kiwis carving out an unwanted slice of history.
Falling victim to Tonga 28-22 in their Rugby League World Cup pool B decider in Hamilton on Saturday, New Zealand became the first of the big three nations to ever lose to a secondtier side.
Effectively, it was the biggest upset in the international game, though considering Tonga’s roster – defectors and all – there was a time this was going to come, and the result does wonders for the sport.
However, for the Kiwis, it’s yet another stumble, which has become far too commonplace of late; and leaves their World Cup dreams in tatters. Instead of a likely semifinal matchup with England in Auckland, Australia in Brisbane now looms, though now even getting past Jarryd Hayne’s Fiji in Saturday’s quarterfinal in Wellington must not even be taken for granted.
Kidwell’s Kiwis coaching record now reads an ugly three wins, a draw (against Scotland), and five losses (to Tonga, and all four meetings with the Kangaroos).
Along with some shabby onfield showings, there surely has to be some serious swing in fortunes if there’s going to be much confidence in appointing him past his current January 2018 contract expiry.
Not that Kidwell seems to be feeling the heat, repeating his immediate post-match summation at the team’s recovery session on Sunday that the loss to Tonga was a ‘‘blessing in disguise’’.
‘‘There’s no embarrassment, you look at Tonga, they’re a very good side,’’ he said.
However, for the defeat to be a true blessing, the Kiwis would have to learn something out of it and progress to bigger things.
But the need to atone for the result by beating Australia, or going on to win the tournament, wasn’t being entertained by Kidwell.
‘‘We are on a different path now, and Fiji’s in our way at the moment so our focus is them,’’ he said.
Despite the galling loss, Kidwell said the night was no more restless than the usual lack of sleep a coach gets postgame, and he was also able to explain why the team were in good spirits in their Sunday pool session, joking around as ice bags got flung at one another.
‘‘Oh look, we’ve got commitment in there, and we know there’s a couple of little things in that game - a good 15-minute period there where Tonga had scored a couple of tries,’’ he said, identifying kickpressure improvement as key, along with discipline, and completion rate, which was just 68 per cent to Tonga’s 86.
‘‘We know we’re quietly confident, and if we fix those little things in the game it will hold us in good stead for the rest of the tournament.’’
The team were flying to Wellington on Sunday afternoon, and Kidwell said the only injury concern coming out of the game was winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who had a ‘‘knock to the knee’’, and would be monitored through the week.
He also said centre Dean Whare has returned to Australia for the funeral of his uncle, and will re-join the squad on Tuesday.
Kiwis veteran Simon Mannering has called for future test series between New Zealand and Tonga, in the wake of the historic Rugby League World Cup result at the weekend.
In an epic 28-22 comeback win in their pool b decider in Hamilton on Saturday evening, Tonga became the first secondtier nation to topple one of the big three sides, and with it, laid the foundations for a surge in the international game.
Listening to Mannering postmatch, you could have been forgiven for thinking the 31-year-old second rower was on the winning side, such were the glowing tones he spoke of what had just unfolded
‘‘I just thought it was a real great spectacle for rugby league. I’ve played for a number of years, and that’s probably the best crowd I’ve ever played in front of,’’ he said of the 24,041 sellout, which was so massively in favour of the visitors.
‘‘It was disappointing for us with the result, but I can walk off that field with a smile on my face, just happy with rugby league in general.
‘‘I just think it’s great for the game, we’ve got to look to grow the international game, and hopefully today was a start.’’
Halfback Shaun Johnson, while unhappy his side blew their chances, said credit certainly had to be handed Tonga’s way,agreed that the result boded well.
‘‘That’s really good for our sport, to have that competition, and have a nation like Tonga challenging those top-tier countries,’’ he said.
While no doubt Tonga were boosted plenty by the defectors from the New Zealand ranks, Mannering said that leading into the World Cup he was thinking good things were going to come from it.
‘‘Unfortunately it’s to our detriment today that Tonga beat us, but I always thought how good it’d be for a game for these second-tier nations to beat these top-tier nations,’’ he said. ‘‘If anything, I’d like to see them stick with it.
‘‘If the Pacific Island teams get to choose their strongest teams, and we can create an international game where us as New Zealand don’t have to rely on England or Australia to get tournaments going, we could play Tonga in a three-match series here, or a tri-series with Samoa.’’
It just remains to be seen what the Rugby League International Federation do about building on the stunning platform. Time on the calendar is always the enemy, and getting NRL clubs to release players proves difficult.