Coach Isitolo Maka is hopeful Tonga's 19-14 World Cup win over France will bolster their international ambitions.
Tonga coach hoping France win will aid international ambitions
Tonga coach Isitolo Maka hopes his side's superb upset 19-14 World Cup win over France will result in more Test matches against tier-one nations in the future.
When the Tongans faced New Zealand in the World Cup opener last month is was the first time they had played one of rugby's major nations since the previous tournament in 2007.
But, after claiming the scalp of the out-of-sorts French in their Pool A match in Wellington today, Maka was optimistic they would not have to wait another four years before getting another shot at a top-ranked side.
"This win has really helped Tongan rugby for moving forward and I hope the IRB will give us a Test match against a tier-one country," the former All Blacks loose forward said.
"For us to beat France tonight is very special and it's good for Tongan rugby and for our people who have supported us since we have been here (in New Zealand).
"All the Pacific Island teams have done so well. Samoa did a great job last night against South Africa and while they didn't win it did really help us."
Given the size of his side's accomplishment at Wellington Regional Stadium, Maka looked the picture of calm when he fronted the media.
"The win tonight, you people don't know what it means to me and to our people back in Tonga," he said.
"In Tonga right now our people are going crazy. We are going to get a lot of support when we get to Auckland tomorrow.
"I think this World Cup has really come alive, especially with our fans who have really supported us and have been everywhere.
"I just want to take my hat off to our fans who have supported us to the end."
Tonga went into the match with an outside chance of making the quarter-finals. They needed to win and score a bonus point and deny France a bonus point to put themselves in the running.
But on several occasions throughout the match they opted for shots at goal rather than going for a lineout.
Fly-half Kurt Morath missed four of his eight penalty attempts and revealed the players had wanted to push for the tries.
Momentum
"At the start of the second half there was a penalty in the right-hand corner and the players wanted to go to the corner and give it a good crack because we thought we had a bit of momentum," he said.
"But we got the call from the touchline to go for the goals. That's the way it goes."
Maka explained his reasoning for the decision to kick for goals as the match progressed.
"Towards the end we knew we couldn't score three tries in eight minutes and I thought it was important for us to win the game first," the coach said.
"So that's why we decided to kick goals and not go for tries. The thing for us was to make sure we won the game."
France snatched the bonus point they needed with the last play of the game when Vincent Clerc went over for his side's only try to get them to within seven points of Tonga.
But Morath said his team-mates had not been surprised by Les Bleus' performance.
"A lot of the guys in our team play in France so they know what to expect when they play them," he said.
"The focus this week was more about us. If we could turn up mentally, with the right head space, then we knew we'd be able to compete. It was just a matter of us turning up for us to get the result."
Maka added: "I have a lot of respect for the French team. I said this last week, when you play against the French you don't know which team will turn up.
"When they do turn up they can beat anyone in the world and they certainly didn't really turn up today."
