Connect with us

Rugby League World Cup

Samoa boss Matt Parish explains 60-6 defeat to England as he says Samoa can still “do something in this World Cup”

Samoa boss Matt Parish insisted he wasn’t shell shocked after his side conceded 10 tries and 60 points against England in a World Cup opener they were tipped to win at St James’ Park.

It was certainly a surprising result to everyone, even those who tipped England to defy the odds and win.

After the game, he looked to diagnose the reasons for the defeat but said they weren’t looking for excuses: “England played very well, we had a few injuries, we had a few setbacks which we didn’t handle as well as we could.

“They had the momentum and couldn’t swing it back.

“We needed to be better than that today. We’re not looking for excuses. We didn’t have a lot of luck injury wise but we needed to be more resilient than we were.”

One of the narratives coming out of the game was that Samoa gave up as the conceded six tries in the last quarter of the game. However, Parish rejected this narrative but understood it was “disappointing”:

“It was disappointing. We rolled in with a good team and we still have a good team. We had a man in the sin bin, second-rows in the centres and a centre who was busted. I wouldn’t say we gave up.

“We had players out of position, Tyrone May gets carried off. There is no excuse for the scoreline.”

Samoa had only begun training on Monday, and when asked if more preparation would have made yesterday’s result any different, Parish said: “I think that would have helped. If you get the football and play that game tomorrow, it would be an entirely different game.

“We will build from this performance. It wasn’t the performance we wanted today, but we have a group of guys that are determined to do something in this World Cup.”

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Must See

More in Rugby League World Cup