There could have been any number of Tonga players singled out for special praise after their incredible victory over France, but we’ve gone for back row Sione Kalamafoni after an immense display.
Tonga’s brilliant victory over France in Wellington earlier today is likely to be overshadowed for a number of reasons.
For a start, even though Tonga were in their pool, New Zealanders and the New Zealand media will be too worried fretting on the fitness of golden boy Dan Carter (it will be a national crisis if he’s ruled out of the tournament) to think about it.
Elsewhere, England’s unconvincing qualification for the quarter-finals is bound to attract some attention, while the main focus from the France v Tonga game itself is likely to be yet another dithering performance by the moody Bleus rather than a celebration of one of the shocks in Rugby World Cup history.
But celebrated it should be. Tonga didn’t ‘shock’ France in the manner that so often happens in sport by being plucky and capitalising on a stroke of good fortune to eventually win out.
Instead, they dominated for the majority of the 80 minutes and if it wasn’t for a rather bizarre decision by the already-beaten French to take the scrum at the death instead of the penalty in front of the posts that would have guaranteed the losing bonus point, the margin of victory would have been more emphatic and a fairer reflection of events.
On the rare occasions that France did get to run at the Tongan defence, Kalamafoni was there to smash them in the tackle and force them back.
If fairness presided, we would pick all 15 Tonga players as heroes of the day, but we can’t. Besides, it all sounds a little too mushy and is possibly a little bit patronising towards a Tongan side who fully deserved their victory and don’t deserve the inevitable platitudes that are dished out to underdogs when they perform above and beyond what it expected.
At the heart of the Tongan victory was Sione Kalamafoni, who plies his trade with Nottingham in the lowly English championship. Kalamafoni delivered a powerhouse display in the back-row, making tackles and surging runs and chasing kicks with vigour as Tonga successfully pursued a territory game.
On the rare occasions that France did get to run at the Tongan defence, Kalamafoni was there to smash them in the tackle and force them back and it was no surprise that Marc Lievremont’s men were restricted to three Yachvili penalties until taken by surprise by Clerc’s late intervention.
Kalamafoni was deservedly voted man of the match and although his interest in the competition is over, there could be many a more illustrious club than Nottingham chasing his services in the near future.
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