Tonga’s herculean defeat of the Kangaroos in Saturday night’s Oceania Cup match was one of the feel-good moments of 2019 in rugby league, but it also highlighted a major flaw in the international scheduling of the code.
You can’t give enough credit to the tenacity and passion of the Tongan side last night in their historic 16-12 victory over Australia. Not only did they have to face the world’s best line-up – bear that in mind – but they also had a makeshift halves pairing of Tui Lolohea and Kotoni Staggs, who ended up being two of the best on the park.
In what was the Kangaroos’ first defeat against a side other than England, New Zealand and Great Britain since 1978, it was truly a victory we will be speaking of in the next few decades.
Australia were off all night. There was a clunkiness and disorganisation that revealed a side that had played together only once prior, the week before. While they did come away with what looked like a dominant victory in that match, realistically the Kangaroos were up against a very poor New Zealand side, with two of their tries coming from long-range runaway efforts.
For the past five years, barring World Cup years, my eyes have rolled with the lack of Australian Test matches booked in the calendar. You only have to go back to 2015 when there was just the one Anzac Test in the middle of the season.
Although it was audacious, seeing England and New Zealand take on one another midseason in Denver last season was exactly the kind of scope that Australia needs to adopt.
As an Australian it’s hard to be passionate for a side that plays only twice a year, and given the side has changed significantly over the last few years, I can only imagine it’s hard for players to gain any cohesion with one another when they are only on the field for a finite amount of time each year despite boasting some of the best individual talents in the world.
How Great Britain don’t get a chance to play the Kangaroos this season is an absolute disgrace to the international sport. If we’re going to get a number of Test matches at the end of the season, why not make a Four Nations event annual outside of World Cup years? After their clean sweep this year, Tonga are most worthy of a spot as a Tier 1 nation.
They say that playing for your country is the highest honour, but clearly it isn’t treated as such at the moment.
Kent Dorfman
Roar Rookie
exactly - so why would Erin Molan then struggle pronouncing Pacifica names?
Republican
Guest
.....no what this proves is that the GR of League is going the way of Union here, evidenced by the growing number of Kiwi and PI athletes represented throughout our 'doemstic' NRL, around 35%. This diaspora will dominate our NRL before the decade is out. These sorts of defeats will become common place over the next 5 years, while Australia scrambles to seduce these athletes, continuing our redefining of national loyalties, (loyalty being an oxymoron in todays commercially motivated sporting culture), to this end.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Your uncle had hand writing like a typewriter! SO neat. I've seen him make one mistake at the bottom of a foolscap page and screw it up and start again. He was such a perfectionist and a nice guy too. I did technical drawing with him and I always knew he would end up an architect, he came first in every assignment. We were in the same year as Nathan Merritt's and Kyle Turner's dads. I played in first grade with Nathan's dad and your uncle played in second grade. Good times. Good times. ;-)
Andréa Mandadakis
Roar Guru
Hey mate, sure is. That'd be my uncle. Small world it is and good to see more Rabbitohs around. Glory Glory.
Paul
Roar Guru
fair call, but I don't remember comments like this appearing after that loss, Zozza.
Actually , lost to Kiwis last year too. So, more than "one" test match.
mushi
Roar Guru
One data point has only ever proved ignorance
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
@ Andréa Your Dad/Uncle wouldn't be called George by any chance? And he went to Clevo in the late 70's - early 80's? Small world if that's the case. ;-)
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
No eels47. Because it was an "invitational" team that was not endorsed by the Tonga RL board the result doesn't count. Sorry Tonga. Great exhibition game though. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
It was great to finally see the Kangaroos toppled. Australia has treated international rugby league as an afterthought for as long as I can remember. Now we have a coach who says all the right things about making it the pinnacle of the game, and bringing back the passion to the green and gold jersey – but really it’s just more of the same with better spin attached. England lost 6-0 in 2017 to Australian in the World Cup final – the two sides haven’t played each other since, yet England and New Zealand have played each other 4 times in that time. Now Great Britain tours for the first time since 2007 and Australia won’t play them? It’s disgusting! The Kangaroos got exactly what they deserved on Saturday, and there will be more to come if they don’t change their attitude. Finally, I find it hilarious that after Boyd Cordner led Australia to victory over New Zealand, no one would stop talking about how he’s the first NSW player to captain a premiership, Origin Series win and test match victory over a tier one nation in one season. Never mind the fact that when Lockyer did it in 2006 his Kangaroos won a Tri Nations tournament, and Smith in 2017 won a World Cup (both significantly greater achievements than a one-off test win). But how come no one is talking about Cordner being the first captain since 1978 to preside over a loss to a tier 2 nation? Where are all the Cordner fans now?
eels47
Roar Rookie
The game was still classified as a test match even with the Tongan team being an invitational team.
Andrew
Guest
I didn't watch a lot of the coverage of this match, but a question; Was it technically a Test? When I went to NRL.com it listed the games as the Australian Kangaroos vs Tonga Invitational side. While it doesn't make the loss by Australia anymore palatable, historically, will the game go down officially as a Test or a class A match (like a Tour match in the old days)?
Paul
Roar Guru
Really? And which Australian teams are ranked " at the top of their respective games"? Mena's Rugby League is and because we lost ONE Test match, we've "long been arrogantly complacent and disrespectfully dismissive of their opposition". Really? After one loss? In any of the men's cricket formats, we're far from the top, so does this mean we're not "arrogantly complacent and disrespectfully dismissive of the opposition"? Ditto for men's rugby & soccer? The only sides I can think of that are the top of the tree are the womens cricket & netball teams. Both play with huge amounts of passion and both treat their opposition with respect, so I'm not sure where you're coming from with this comment.
Republican
Guest
Australia's top sporting teams and individuals have long been arrogantly complacent and disrespectfully dismissive of their opposition. Our international teams that are ranked at the top of their respective games, so Cricket and League are prime examples, lack passion compared with many other nations. This is an inherent national trait it seems and is why NZ especially, defeat us regularly with their passion and pride across all sport.
Insider
Roar Rookie
No it proves we are arrogant! For to long the “darlings” the “encumbrances” the “favs” have had preference over young, energised enthusiastic players, just like those who call the game the players are now looking tiered
Onside
Guest
Honestly Andréa, the word Test, means International competition. Tell us, who (apart from England ) are Australia going to play against. In Australia, players with Pacific Island heritage, make up what seems to be about 50% of most teams, that underpins both rugby league and rugby union. We should be celebrating Tonga's occasional win. Good on 'em.
buttery
Roar Rookie
Meninga should be sacked, he has been paid to be the full time coach & oversee the other Australian representative teams & he has been working for Foxsports & the Titans, in fact he has been working full time for the Titans during their crisis instead of concentrating on the Kangaroo, okay it's the ARLC's blame as well because they have let him be employed by the Titans & Foxsports, now after this embarrassing loss to a 2 Tier Nation he should go.