RWC: Tonga bounce back but facing long odds

Siale Piutau led Tonga to a bounce-back win over Namibia. Photo / Getty

There's something about having their backs to the wall that brings out the best in Tonga.

They showed that in 2011 when, after unexpectedly losing to Canada, they bounced back with wins over Japan and then France.

They are on a similar trajectory in 2015, having opened their campaign with a loss to Georgia, they rebounded strongly at Exeter in defeating Namibia with a performance that had enough about it to foster confidence.

Their only hope of making it through the pool is to beat the Pumas on Monday and then hope they can grab a bonus point against the All Blacks.

It's a major long shot of course, but so too was beating France in Wellington four years ago, and Tonga pulled that off.

"Comparing this World Cup to the last one, we lost to Canada and we felt we had our backs against the wall," said Tongan captain Siale Piutau after the 35-21 defeat of Namibia.

"That is the same feeling we had this week after Georgia. A lot our family and friends expected us to win that but we put ourselves into position where we knew we had to come out today and put on a performance. We got the win, the five points, but we know we are going to have to be a lot better to beat Argentina."

Ball retention will be one area of concern for the Tongans. They spilled too much of it at Sandy Park. When they did hold onto the ball and play out of contact, they looked more than reasonable.

There were patches of genuinely classy continuity where the athleticism and micro skills of the players was compelling. That's Tonga at their best, big men with ball in hand and no one is bigger than Opeti Fonua.

If its true that the Tongans did visit Nandos for consecutive 10 days and Fonua was among them, it's a wonder there is a chicken left in the UK.

Listed in the match programme as 120kg, he's clearly not. The 29-year-old loose forward, whose shorts would pose a washing machine the same problems as a duvet, gave only glimpses against Namibia of what he can do.

If Tonga can get him at full noise, run him hard at the Pumas for 30 minutes or more, then they could make some progress. They will also be content with their scrum which destroyed the Namibians.

"We were pleased with the level we found against Namibia because we didn't scrum that well against Georgia," said Tongan coach Mana Otai. "But is going to be another level against Argentina."

Tonga will have a nervous wait to get a prognosis for influential veteran Hale T-Pole who was in superb form until he was forced off early in the second half with an ankle injury.

His experience and organisation at the lineout will be sorely missed if he's ruled out but if he is, it will add fuel to Tonga's fire that is starting to burn: a fire that seems they can only light once they have experienced adversity.