Manu Samoa's tight loss 'bodes extremely well' for World Cup upset
An incredibly narrow defeat at the hands of the world’s top-ranked side Ireland was yet another statement of the potential Manu Samoa has for an upset at the Rugby World Cup.
Samoa won two out of their three Tests in the Pacific Nations Cup, falling only to Fiji while toppling Japan and thumping Tonga.
Following the tournament, they have been boosted by a debut to former All Black Lima Sopoaga whose game management and experience guided the team around the park in last weekend’s tight encounter in Bayonne.
While it wasn’t Andy Farrell’s first-choice team, Samoa’s ability to challenge the Irish outfit in the contact and around the field will have again put their Pool D competition on notice.
“The most impressive thing for me was, Ireland are normally that sort of (attack with) bodies in motion, dominant carries, getting across the gain-line,” James Parsons said on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod. “They kept the Irish to 33% gain line, which isn’t very high.
“They had 56% gain line themselves, they had almost double the metres with less carries. They had discipline, only five penalties.
“The two areas they’ll be looking at most I’d suggest is probably their lineout accuracy – so the scrum was fine, good dominance, they operated at 65%. Tough conditions but that’s going to be big if you can’t win that set piece it just means teams can kick to the sideline and almost (back themselves) to get the ball back – and then the maul defence.
“Outside of that, their accuracy defensively, their ability to manipulate the defence to create opportunity, yes they didn’t finish all the opportunities but it was tough conditions. Ireland had some opportunities as well that they didn’t finish.
“But it bodes extremely well and the one thing I like about it is there’s a lot of players in that side that are based in the northern hemisphere, so they know how they play. It’s quite a big advantage in that understanding of how they play and where to put pressure on, and I just think they got the balance right in terms of when to kick. They kicked quite a few times, 32 times, so they didn’t want to play too much in the wet, and when to pull trigger.
“I just think this balance of attack, this game management is really crucial to get right and that discipline which they nailed on the weekend.”
Having already defeated one of their Pool D rivals in Japan, coach Seilala Mapusua will know his team can compete for a spot in the quarter-finals. But, with England and Argentina also in the pool, it will take huge performances week in, and week out to progress.
The Samoans will start their World Cup campaign against Chile on September 17, after their bye in the opening week of the tournament.
As promising as the attacking performance against the Irish was, Parsons went on to commend the Samoans’ defensive effort. The former All Black highlighted the limited ways in which Ireland found success in the match against Tana Umaga’s defensive systems.
“On the face of it, it was a kick in behind which got a good bounce for one try and then the maul defence, where they just steamrolled over.
“Outside of that, their phase defence, they were hard to break down. They read Ireland’s kicking cues really well, the midfield would come up and then as they shaped to kick all three of them would drop back and they’d have that kick coverage sorted.
“They’re very aware of what their systems and their defence allowed them to do. Knowing Tana (Umaga), he’s very efficient in the defensive systems he runs and I suppose the simplicity of it.
“I think they’re in a good pool, they’re a genuine opportunity, I mean it could be a Fiji vs Samoa quarter-final.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Interesting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
37 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
1 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to comments