Jones angry after Tonga reversal

SAMOA coach Michael Jones was angry that his side were out-fought by Pacific Island rivals Tonga in their 19-15 defeat in Montpellier.

Tonga finished the match with 13 men after Hale T Pole received a red card and Toma Toke a late yellow but managed to hang on.

Epeli Taione scored the only try for Tonga in a match dominated by the boots of Pierre Hola (four penalties) and Samoa’s Gavin Williams (five).

“It was obviously very disappointing. We know we are a better side than how we played, especially in that second half,” said Jones.

“We were beaten by a team who were just much hungrier. It hurts to say that because we normally pride ourselves on our urgency and our desire and our passion but we were out-passioned and out-muscled by a very, very good Tongan team.

Hola and Williams exchanged early penalties before Samoa’s Elvis Seveali’i had a try ruled out by the video referee after he was ruled not to have grounded the ball.

Samoa’s pressure resulted in a pair of penalties which Williams slotted to make it 9-3. A stray boot then led to another penalty for the Samoans and Williams added another effort in front of the posts.

Taione found himself sin-binned for kicking the ball away in the loose but remarkably it seemed to invigorate his team and for the first time Tonga put sustained pressure on their rivals.

Their pressure resulted in a second penalty for Hola, who reduced the difference to six points at halfway.

Tonga found their feet after the break and Hola’s penalty made it 12-9 before, just before the hour, Taione burst through to touch down and they went ahead with the conversion.

Hola confidently kicked another three points with 13 minutes to go but Williams cut the deficit to four before Pole was red-carded in the closing stages for striking Leo Lafaiali’i and Toke was shown a yellow.

Tonga head coach Quddus Fielea, having also beaten the USA, said of the win: “I’m not in a position to rate this victory, that’s up to the rugby community back home to make that judgement, but I would say that this is one of the tops.

Samoa scorers: Pens: Williams 5. Samoa: Williams, Tagicakibau, Savealii, Mapusua, A. Tuilagi, Crichton, Sooialo, Lealamanua, Schwalger, Johnston, J. Tekori, Thompson, Leo, Ulia, Sititi.

Replacements: Lemi for Tagicakibau (56), Poluleuigaga for Sooialo (58), Fuga for Schwalger (59), Salanoa for Johnston (56), Lafaiali’i for J. Tekori (63), Purdie for Ulia (63).

Tonga scorers: Tries: Taione. Cons: Hola. Pens: Hola 4.

TONGA: Lilo, Tu’ifua, Hufanga, Taione, Vaka, Hola, Taufa, S. Tonga’uiha, Taukafa, Pulu, Afeaki, Hehea, T-Pole, Latu, Maka.

Replacements: H. Tonga’uiha for Tu’ifua (57), Tupou for Taione (73), Tuipulotu for Taufa (43), Toke for S. Tonga’uiha (73), Lutui for Taukafa (51), Vaki for Afeaki (56).

Ref: J Kaplan (South Africa).