LILLE, France (Reuters) – Tonga came into the World Cup with very little preparation under their belts and leave having maintained their record of at least one victory at every tournament since 2007, but now face an uncertain future with head coach Toutai Kefu set to depart.
A 45-24 victory over Romania in their final Pool B match in Lille on Sunday will be cause for celebration, but it was a tough campaign for the Pacific Islanders in a group that contained three of the top five teams in the world in Ireland, South Africa and Scotland.
Kefu said his side would get better as the tournament went on having had no warm-up games in the month before the World Cup got underway.
So it proved, as a heavy loss to Ireland was followed by competitive displays against Scotland and South Africa, before the victory over Romania.
“I knew if we practised the things we did, we were building up to our best performance – and I thought tonight was probably our best performance,” Kefu said.
“A win like that gives everyone a lift and is evidence we are doing something right.
“The campaign has been disappointing, we expected more than one win. We competed in those first three games but we continued to make those tier two errors – simple mistakes.”
There was cause for optimism heading to France as World Rugby’s 2021 eligibility rule change means the squad featured World Cup winner Malakai Fekitoa and other former All Blacks Charles Piutau, Vaea Fifita, George Moala and Augustine Pulu, as well as former Wallabies lock Adam Coleman.
But Kefu believes only more time together, and more matches, especially against top tier nations, will make Tonga improve.
“My players have come from 20 odd programmes (teams) scattered all over. Look at Ireland, 95% of them come from one team. I needed time to get my boys aligned. We need more games, it’s as simple as that. How they (World Rugby) do that, I don’t know.”
Former Australia international Kefu, who won the World Cup in 1999, departs after seven years at the helm.
“It has been disappointing in terms of results – maybe a 40% win-loss record, but my team’s not geared up to win because of the system,” he said.
“I am going to take some time off. I’d love to stay in coaching but haven’t looked that far ahead yet.”
(Reporting by Nick Said, editing by Ed Osmond)
