By STEVE MASCORD
MATT Parish is convinced one of rugby league’s ‘big three’ will be defeated by a tier two nation at the World Cup this year.
But he admits there is plenty of work to do if it is to be his Samoan side.
A genuine upset in the early rounds would set the tournament up nicely for organisers and with the strength of the squads being assembled, Parish said no-one should be surprised when it happens.
“There’re a number of teams who can do it if they get their full complements of players, which I think they will,” he told Big League.
“There’s Tonga, Fiji … you look at the quality of players that is available for those teams. Jarryd Hayne could turn out, quite easily for Fiji.
“How enormous would that be? Tonga are very strong right across the park and I’ve got no doubt that on our day, we can compete. We just need to be consistent.”
But in the wake of the 30-10 defeat to England at Campbelltown Stadium on May 6, Parish admits some line-up changes and improved attack are necessary for his side, which shares a pool with New Zealand, Tonga and Scotland.
Like all nations, he has players to come into his squad. (continued below)
“I was pretty happy with the team, it was pretty strong,” he insisted. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t play as well as we knew we could.
“The boys certainly know now what they’ve got to to do to beat one of the top three nations in the world.”
Cronulla’s Ricky Leutele, Parramatta’s Frank Pritchard, Canberra’s Sia Soliola are among the NRL players to be added by Castleford’s Ben Roberts, Junior Moors and Jesse Sene-Lafao are all in the frame too – along with Catalans’ Krisnan Inu.
Samoa will play a warm-up game against Country in Wagga Wagga on October 14. “Then we’re going to Samoa for a training camp,” the coach said.
The coach says Anthony Milford and Josh McGuire set a great example for all dual-eligible players when they represented Samoa and Queensland within weeks during May. This should have alleviated the fears of any players who doubted the strength of new eligibility rules.
Looking beyond the World Cup, Parish is disappointed at the apparent demise of the Four Nations concept. “The Pacific Tests will continue but the thing is, for these nations to get good, they have to compete against the top three nations,” he said.
“…not just play each other.”
