For those of our SMS members who missed out on yesterday-last nights update on Toa Samoa vs. Englands game, well here you go! Cheers to our brothers at Pacific Illustrated for the updates! In an enthralling game that was anticipated to be a colossal forwards battle between the Toa Samoa and England national rugby league team heavyweights, the limelight was almost stolen by the diminutive Pita Godinet who came off the bench for Samoa and caught the Englishmen having scones and tea around the ruck on quite a few occasions. Godinet plays for the struggling Wakefield Wildcats club in the English Super League having left the NRL from the NSW Cup. A promising player throughout his NYC career, none of the NRL clubs ended up picking him up and it looks like the Englishmen themselves weren’t threatened by him until they came up against him tonight. A dangerous runner from dummy half close to the line will keep the Kiwis and the Australian sides desperate to shut him down. Tonight the English error rate was unfortunately high, while the Samoan’s completion rate was outstanding. There was a lot of individual brilliance from the Samoans with great attacking ability across the park, however the absence of team combinations were obvious. It was a tough encounter between the forward packs with the usual suspects showing their dominance. English hard men in James Graham and the Burgess brothers stood true to their reputations, while Samoan big men Masoe, Pritchard, Tagataese, McGuire and Sene-Lefao muscled up and physically matched their rivals. There were many standout players amongst a promising Samoan side and the game could have went either way at the end. The Englishmen were on the ropes towards the end with another surge from the Samoans late in the game and another try seemingly inevitable, although they failed to capitalize. The Samoan’s kicking game could have been better, and their set plays more structured as they lacked any real team play pizazz. These guys have definitely got the caliber of players with the right mix of explosive power, speed and strength, while they also have the endurance and the passion. All that is missing however is team structure and having had the benefit of playing together as a test side over a long period of time similar to other squads who have done so for many years. The chopped up Australian side due to injuries running new combinations coming into this tournament is testament to this losing to a powerful NZ side 30 – 12 on the same night! Samoan players are renown for their broken play and individual flair, but as a team that must work toward structured plays, you have to acknowledge that historically this is where they have always struggled. This is where player discipline will trump individual talent. No longer does the Samoan side need to be satisfied and proud of their individual players and making it into the Four Nations, they need to want to win the tournament like the other 3 sides as both the coach Matt Parish and skipper David Fa’alogo said in the post match interview, We want to win. Were here to compete but were also here to win. We created enough opportunities to win tonight but we didnt execute and probably didnt get the rub of the green on a few calls”. This will require that each player commits and works towards their skipper or the playmaker’s call, and not go out on a limb. There are times when individual brilliance can change a game, and there are times when a concerted set play is also needed. Lets hope TOA SAMOA are able to play as one team rather than a team of individuals against a powerful New Zealand Kiwis side hot off the win against Australian Kangaroos. England 32 - Samoa 26 Image: Matt Roberts O ai le TOA? #SAMOA ;) Malo lava le tauivi Tama Toa, malo le faamalosi malo foi le siva Tau! Malo le tapuai SAMOA! :) Lynn.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 09:27:15 +0000
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