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Samoans eat humble pie

Samoan coach Michael Jones

Furious Samoan coach Michael Jones has admitted that his team will be forced to eat a big slice of "humble pie" after they were out-fought by Pacific Island rivals Tonga in their 19-15 defeat in Montpellier on Sunday.

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 made too many unforced errors and we just didn't have the mental toughness to push through in that last five or ten minutes when they were down [to 13 men] and we just needed to keep our composure.

"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.

"We acknowledge and commend the Tongans on how they played. They were awesome. We have to eat humble pie. That's part of this journey we're on."

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 judgment, but I would say that this is one of the tops.

"To have won two games in the world cup is a major achievement."