‘Ikale Tahi Head Coach, Toutai Kefu, remains full of confidence for the team and is looking forward to seeing them regroup against Canada in Tonga this afternoon.
“We need to really reform and regroup to play against Canada –we’ve always had to play well to beat them and I expect no different Thursday,” he said.
At a media briefing in Nuku’alofa, he spoke about the challenge of balancing travel time and training for the team during the July Internationals.
In the last five weeks the team has played Australia A in Tonga on 14 July, the Flying Fijians in Lautoka, Fiji on 22 July, Japan’s Brave Blossoms in Higashiosaka on 29 July, and Manu Samoa on 5 August in Samoa.
Toutai believes the challenge that ‘Ikale Tahi has struggled with for the past five weeks is having bad flight schedules. “We probably just need more time to train,” he said.
By the time the team lands somewhere for a game they’re “pretty much on the plane the next day” after just one or two sessions of training.
However, Toutai remains confident in the team and believes that they are trending in the right direction even after the results of the previous games (beating Australia A, but losing to Japan, Fiji and Samoa)
Canada’s Head Coach, Kingsley Jones is eager to see his team play against a “physical team” like the ‘Ikale tahi, and that he’s also keen to see the selection tomorrow.
“It’ll be a big challenge but also a great honour for us to play in Tonga,” he said.
The game will be held at Teufaiva Stadium today at 3pm.
SOURCE: TONGA WIRES/PACNEWS
