KEY POINTS:
So much for solidarity in the south seas.
Samoa are hoping Tonga crash and burn at the World Cup to open the door to their own quarter-final chances.
In a huge day for rugby in the Pacific, Tonga face South Africa in Lens on Sunday morning, followed by a potential doozy between Samoa and defending champions England.
That match in Nantes was always slated as a decider for second place behind South Africa in Pool A.
However, Tonga's 19-15 boilover defeat of Samoa in Montpellier last weekend has thrown the race open.
Winless Samoa must topple the turgid English, preferably with a bonus point, to have any hope of qualifying second. Coach Michael Jones also needs Tonga to fail against South Africa in the battle of the unbeaten teams and then again against England a week later.
"Hopefully Tonga don't win any more games and they don't pick up a bonus point," was Jones's summation.
"We've got to hope that England and South Africa don't give Tonga any scope for even a point."
Coming into the tournament, Jones was asked about the England showdown but his constant reply had been a warning not to write off the Tongans.
"There's no reason why, if they catch England on a bad day, they can't cause an upset. That's not what we want," he said, "South Africa will be a hard opposition. They're really ruthless and they're just playing a really smart game and playing to their strengths.
"So there's still a slim chance we can redeem ourselves and still fulfil our dream. We're still not out of this, we've still got a chance."
Jones' sizeable injury list grew again yesterday when prop Muliufi Salanoa and fullback Gavin Williams were ruled out. Williams has scored all 22 points at the tournament so far.
By contrast England welcome back pointscoring maestro and 2003 World Cup hero Jonny Wilkinson, who will make his first start of the tournament at first five-eighths behind a big pack which is very adept at the set piece.
That was the key in the memorable 2003 pool match between the teams when Samoa led until the 66th minute but were overpowered.
It is likely the islanders will employ a more expansive style than they did at Montpellier.
"We felt that [conservative game plan] was the best way to play Tonga, we've beaten them that way before but the Tongans when they're in that mood - and I've never seen them in such a mood - it doesn't matter what game plan you throw at them, they're going to smash you over," Jones said.
"We did have the right game plan, they just wanted it more, they were hungrier."
Twin losses for England would leave them in the unthinkable position of having to go through qualifying for the next World Cup in New Zealand.
The top three teams from each of the four pools in France will automatically earn places at the 2011 tournament but the bottom two teams will face uncertain futures, having to qualify for the remaining four or eight positions, depending on the number of teams involved.
- NZPA
