Tonga coach warns Ireland they are 'here to really fire some shots'
Assistant coach Tyler Bleyendaal says Tonga intend to “really fire some shots” at the Rugby World Cup and warned Ireland’s “well-oiled machine” to expect a bruising Pool B encounter in Nantes.
The Pacific islanders, who sit 15th in the Test rankings, launch their campaign at Stade de la Beaujoire on Saturday, having been drawn in arguably the toughest group.
Bleyendaal is familiar with many of Andy Farrell’s squad due to a five-year stint with Munster during his playing days.
“One of the big challenges is how together they are, they’ve played a lot of time together and they’re a pretty well-oiled machine, number one in the world,” said the 33-year-old New Zealander.
“We’re going to have to be quite physical, we’re going to have to win the breakdown battle, the tackle battle and have a really strong set-piece.
“That’s the foundation of our game and that’s what we’re going to have to do on the weekend.”
Tonga also face the might of reigning champions South Africa and Scotland in the coming weeks, in addition to minnows Romania.
“The reality is they’re much better, more complete teams than us because they’re playing at a higher level of competition more often,” continued Bleyendaal.
“That doesn’t change our ambition, our preparation, we’re here to really fire some shots and try and knock over all of the teams in our pool.
“That’s our attitude but we’re not delusional to the challenge we face, that’s for sure. We’re excited for the challenge.”
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Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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