Lam: Superior Irish can hit rest for Six
“Ireland are far superior to Scotland and Wales,” said the Samoan after yesterday’s conclusion to their tour of the Celtic nations. “The systems and structures they use have certainly improved in the last 12 months. They have had consistency with their coaching staff as well and that shows.
“Physically they are bigger than they were not so long ago and that helps them be more dominant at the breakdown which they were today. They are definitely favourites for the Six Nations and they are in a good place for the World Cup.”
The Islanders came with a reputation for big hits, silky running skills and dodgy defending and they didn’t disappoint, doing exactly what they said on the tin at Lansdowne Road.
In the end though, they fell to their biggest defeat of the tour, although they could have led the hosts as late as five minutes before the break if Tusi Pisi hadn’t gone and left his kicking boots in the locker.
“We’re obviously disappointed with the result,” said Lam. “It was a rocky start again but the boys came back well and we got to within 16-12 at one stage and it could have been even better. We missed a few opportunities after that and the two tries we coughed up before half-time were hard to take.
“We turned it over far too much in the second half and the Irish really showed why they are the second best side in the world at the moment. They showed us a lot about teamwork, systems and pressure.”
When the Islanders were good though, they were sublime. Their three tries were beautiful works of art that showcased perfectly what the likes of Tonga, Samoa and Fiji could bring to the global game if only they could get a fair crack at the whip.
Rabeni’s touch down after 12 minutes was perhaps the pick of the bunch with Kameli Ratuvou’s astonishing burst of speed and clever kick ahead in the build up a fantastic advertisement of the game they aspire to play.
“We put together a video of our tries (Saturday night) and some of them were absolutely terrific but rugby is first and foremost about doing the basics and we have been getting too many of them wrong,” said assistant coach Shane Howarth.
Rugby may have gone professional in the mid-1990s but circumstances beyond their control meant that the Islanders tour was in many ways a throw-back to the old days of amateurism.
Selection of players and even the management was a last-minute job and the team’s PR man Dave Arthurs only found out he was travelling to Europe the day before the squad departed.
Another tour is already being mooted for 2008, taking in France and Britain and Lam is hopeful that the essentials can be ironed out more effectively than was the case this time.
Equally important for the concept to survive is a win. They haven’t managed one yet.
“Preparation is the key,” Lam ended. “We were relying on guys showing up fit and there is huge pressure for players (from clubs) at this time.
“In 2004, the guys got two games against New South Wales and Queensland before the tests and I feel they really need that time to prepare. We were down to 20 fit players this week as well. A flu virus hit us this week and we lost a few to that. We ran out of backs. If you want to play tier one teams you gotta prepare like tier one teams.”
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