{"id":247912,"date":"2022-10-30T21:27:01","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T22:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247912"},"modified":"2022-10-31T23:59:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T23:59:52","slug":"eels-gun-leads-tonga-blitz-as-world-cup-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=247912","title":{"rendered":"Eels gun leads Tonga blitz as World Cup heats up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonga<\/a> coach Kristian Woolf \ufeffbelieves his side have the ability to win the World Cup<\/a> after they utterly demolished the Cook Islands to top Group D and set up a quarter final clash against Samoa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

E\ufeffels<\/a> centre Will Penisini starred with four tries – including a 32nd minute penalty try – as Tonga ran in 16 tries in the 92-10 thrashing. They led 52-0 at half time.<\/p>\n

Woolf said he still believed his side has more in them.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Police called after 'violent' post-match brawl<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cricket legend spills on 'serious' drug addiction<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Finch warns against trap as 'dangerous' hurdle awaits<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

"It was more important for us to come up with a really good performance, we've won two games and haven't played our best," he said.<\/p>\n

"We've had plenty of things that we wanted to work on … we gave a bit of a glimpse of what we are capable of and the quality that we have got.<\/p>\n

\"Tesi<\/p>\n

"I say a bit of a glimpse because we have still got more in us, we are going to be better and we are going to improve off the back of that."<\/p>\n

Tonga went deep in the 2017 World Cup, falling agonisingly short of an appearance in the final after three late tries saw them go down to England 20-18 at Mount Smart Stadium in the semi-final.<\/p>\n

"We've got through those early games. We've built, got better every week and given ourselves an opportunity of a knockout quarter-final but obviously we are aiming to play in bigger games after that," Woolf said.<\/p>\n

"We've had that belief since 2017 and it hasn't waivered at all.<\/p>\n

"The squad might have changed but I still believe we can give this competition a crack with the squad we have and I believe we can win the World Cup."<\/p>\n

\"Will<\/p>\n

Tonga opened the scoring in the first minute of the match, through Roosters star Daniel Tupou, and from there it was all one-way traffic.<\/p>\n

Fullback Tesi Niu scored three and an assist, while Tuimoala Lolohea, Tupou, and Jason Taumalolo all scored doubles. The radar on Isaiya Katoa's boot was calibrated perfectly, kicking 14 from 16.<\/p>\n

Cook Islands coach Tony Iro said his side "didn't turn up".<\/p>\n

"It was very disappointing. I thought we competed really well our last two games and I didn't see that coming to be honest," he said.<\/p>\n

"Apologies to our supporters and fans, it wasn't acceptable. End of the day we didn't turn up."<\/p>\n

In the other game, Junior Paulo put on one of the hits of the World Cup \ufeffon French fullback Arthur Mourgue as Samoa downed France 62-4 to secure second spot in Group A.<\/p>\n

Taylan May led the scoring with four, while Brian To'o, Tim Lafai and Anthony Milford all picked up doubles.\ufeff<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonga coach Kristian Woolf \ufeffbelieves his side have the ability to win the World Cup after they utterly demolished the Cook Islands to top Group […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247912"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247914,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247912\/revisions\/247914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}