Scotland and Tonga meet in the 2nd match of Pool B, and we’re covering the game with the Who, What, Where, When and How of the big game.
The 2017 Rugby League World Cup is a big deal for us, being huge rugby league fans and love a minnow or two, and we’ll be covering all of the games throughout.
So visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
Now onto the Scotland v Tonga game.
SAMOA v SCOTLAND MATCH REVIEW
RESULT – Who Won?
SAMOA 50 (M. Jennings (3), J. Taumalolo (17), M. Jennings (20), S. Manu (23), D. Tupou (27), P. Terepo (38), M. Jennings (40), D. Tupou (73), A. Hingano (76) Tries, S. Taukeiaho 6, A. Hingano 1 Goals)
SCOTLAND 4 (D. Addy (62) Try)
How Did They Win?
By being just way too good.
The scoring started early and before Scotland even got a solitary hit up, as Michael Jennings sped through the Scottish defence to open up the account for Tonga early.
Scotland battled well for the next part, giving as good as they were getting, but ultimately the Tongans experience paid off as they scored four tries in ten minutes, with Scotland not even getting to touch the ball for over 10 minutes. They finally received the ball from a knock on 20m out but were unable to convert it to points. To rub it in Tonga then scored another two tries in two minutes just before the half time break to take a massive 38-0 lead to the break.
The second half was much closer and Scotland should be commended for not giving up. In fact it took Tonga until the 73rd minute to score again, in that time scored their only try.
What did we learn?
Tonga were spoken about as dark horses for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup before the tournament thanks to some high profile additions, and nothing that was on display in Cairns on Sunday has shown that they shouldn’t be taken very seriously.
Most worried should be New Zealand, as Tonga look to have the firepower to unseat them at the top of Pool B, making Tonga’s life through the knockout stages much easier.
Also that Jason Taumalolo is one of rugby league’s best forwards. Although, probably nothing new learned there.
Michael Jennings is a great “good times” player – someone who thrives when their team is going well. Unsurprisingly has been part of a few failed NSW campaigns.
What was the Moment of the Match?
The burst of four tries in ten minutes from Tonga where Scotland didn’t get the ball summed up the dominance over the game at that point. Scotland had competed for a fair chunk of the first half, but when starved of the ball and facing such a strong side as Tonga, it was never going to end well for them.
Tonga scored back to back tries just before half time to further move the goals posts too far away for the Bravehearts.
Any other bits and pieces?
- How good have the pre game rituals been? Tonga’s looked particularly ferocious. Looking forward to the showdown between New Zealand and Samoa.
- The Scottish turned out it rugby league’s most interesting piece of clothing since the Broncos all diamond night kit. Part Kilt, part boxer shorts, it hardly screamed battle ready.
- The wind played a big part in it, and the Ipswich Jets are the big exponents of it, but Scotland’s kick short kick off showed that a short kick off should be used more. Ipswich get the ball back at almost 50%, so why wouldn’t you break from the traditional lick off where receiving the ball back is under 1%.
- Have you seen a more action packed start to a game of rugby league with a scuffle within a few seconds of the kick off.
- Gotta love seeing Manu Vatuvei playing rugby league on our screens again. Who doesn’t the beast.
THE DOWLING-TAMATI #RLWC2017 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
We’ve decided that a tournament as big as the 2017 Rugby League World Cup needs a Player of the tournament, and who better than International relations specialists Kevin Tamati and Greg Dowling to name our award.
We award points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale every match, and the results for this game is below. For the running total from all of the games visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
5 POINTS – JASON TAUMALOLO – New Zealand’s loss is Tonga’s gain, as the Cowboy backed up his late switch to Tonga with a super performance.
4 POINTS – MICHAEL JENNINGS – Looked dangerous throghout and grabbed himself three of the best in one of his best International performances.
3 POINTS – KONRAD HURRELL – Bustling like does when he’s at his best.
2 POINTS – DANNY BROUGH – Tried his very hardest to lead Scotland despite the gap in class.
1 POINT – MANU MAU – topped the Tongan tackle count and made plenty of metres in attack.
MATCH PREVIEW
Who: SCOTLAND v TONGA
Where and When: Sunday 29 Oct – Cairns
When is it on TV? LIVE 7Mate @ 4:00pm
What’s the Story?
Tonga almost stole all the pre World Cup headlines with the high profile defections of Andrew Fifita and Jason Taumalolo and with a backline full of top NRL stars have become a real dark horse for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup. With expectations a little higher than usual, will they be able to live up to the hype.
They are in arguably the harder of the two major pools, needing to face New Zealand and Samoa after this weekend’s opener against Scotland. In saying that, they are still a chance to top the group or make New Zealand work very hard for it.
Scotland drew with New Zealand in the Four Nations tournament in England last year, and weren’t far off completing the ultimate upset over the Kiwis. They have named a squad full of players based in the UK Super League and Championship, and Danny Brough is the name some would know, a veteran of almost 400 games of rugby league in the English competitions. His experience in the halves combined with Danny Addy, who has almost 200 games under his belt is the only advantage Scotland have over the NRL heavy Tonga.
As stated above Scotland did draw with New Zealand, but this time it will be in the southern hemisphere, if they had a few of the NRL stars who were eligible that were ruled out due to injury they could have really troubled Tonga.
Who Will Win and Why?
Has to be Tonga, and you only have to look at the backline and forward pack to see an arsenal of rugby league weapons. Only the halves look to be the weakest link, but that may not matter if their new recruits fire up.
Tonga by 20
Who to watch for?
First up it has to be Andrew Fifita and Jason Taumalolo to see if all the hype around their defections to Tonga was all worth the hype. If they are no fire they could take Tonga to the top 4 and beyond.
For those looking for a bit of fun look no further than Scotland’s number 17 – Johnny Walker.
TEAMS
Who’s in the Teams?
SCOTLAND
- Lewis Tierney 2. Matthew Russell 3. Ben Hellewell 4. Lachlan Stein 5. Will Oakes 6. Danny Brough (c) 7. Danny Addy 8. Luke Douglas 9. Kane Bentley 10. Ben Kavanagh 11. Frankie Mariano 12. Dale Ferguson 13. James Bell 14. Callum Phillips 15. Andrew Bentley 16. Sam Brooks 17. Johnny Walker 18. Alex Walker 19. Jarred Anderson 20. Kieran Moran 21. Brandan Wilkinson
TONGA
- Will Hopoate 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Michael Jennings 4. Konrad Hurrell 5. Manu Vatuvei 6. Tuimoala Lolohea 7. Ata Hingano 8. Andrew Fifita 9. Siliva Havilli 10. Sio Siua Taukieaho 11. Manu Ma’u 12. Sika Manu (C) 13. Jason Taumalolo 14. Sione Katoa 15. Sam Moa 16. Peni Terepo 17. Ben Murdoch-Masila 18. Joe Ofahengaue 19. Solomone Kata 20. David Fusitu’a 21. Samisoni Langi
MATCH REVIEW
COMING SOON
THE DOWLING-TAMATI #RLWC2017 PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
We’ve decided that a tournament as big as the 2017 Rugby League World Cup needs a Player of the tournament, and who better than International relations specialists Kevin Tamati and Greg Dowling to name our award.
We award points on a 5-4-3-2-1 scale every match, and the results for this game is below. For the running total from all of the games visit our 2017 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP MATCH CENTRE
COMING SOON
