"♪ Fixed  Synced by bozxphd.Enjoy The Flick ♪" "It'sa smallworld." "Everybody knows the saying and here, where we live, it is true." "Now picture another world with valleys so deep and dark, no human will ever set foot upon them." "And mountains so tall they dwarf the himalayas." "It sounds like a fairy tale, but in fact, it is the greatest wilderness on earth." "How big something is usually depends on comparison." "No need with the pacific ocean." "An ocean so deep, that only the very highest peaks emerge to form the tiny pacific islands." "Amongst them, barely visible on a map, lie Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa." "Though tiny in number, resources, and finance, the people who live there have adapted their ancient culture and though fierce in rivalry, they are a brotherhood, united in pitting themselves against the giants of our world" "every four years at the rugby world cup." "To play the pacific island teams, you have to be prepared for off-loads, line breaks, and basically, at the end of it, feeling like you've been in a car crash." "Wheneveryouplay Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, in the morning, you're gonna be sore." "Oh, they love a hit." "It is about sport, about enjoying yourself, about enjoying yourself smashing people." "In the good way." "We love running with the ball." "No fear rugby." "It is the brand of rugby pacific islanders produce." "Ethiopians are good at middle-distance running," "Brazilians are always awesome at football." "We feel we are like that with rugby." "Raw talent, the power, the speed, but what we're lacking of is organization." "Theywillcompete." "Of course they will compete, but, you know, hand on heart, it is not a level playing field." "The gap is getting bigger at the moment." "Not going the other way, and I think that's a scary thing, and a disappointing thing for world rugby." "It's going the wrong way." "You can go up against england and these very professional teams in a world cup," "I would say, you've got very little chance of winning." "To win, the rugby football union backed me financially to put in place a lot of really important things that I thought were required to become the best team in the world." "And I unashamedly went out and hired the very best people" "I could find." "We had a scrum coach, a line-out coach, because I put so much stall on it." "We had a specialist kicking coach." "We had an eye vision coach." "If I thought it'd make a difference, I did it." "We're fortunate enough that we get that every time." "The pacific island teams don't get that." "The preparation time for us has always made a difference between the success of it as well." "You can tell during the preparation how the tournament's more or less gonna go." "In2003, we took our own chef." "Players knew they could just go to this guy any time." "I want beans on toast tonight, or egg and chips, and he'd make sure it was done properly." "The 1995 all blacks team still thinks someone got to their food." "We took our own lawyer." "I've got this top qc with me." "We got into trouble in 2003 because..." "Against Samoa." "Englandhave got 16 players on the field." "I had 16 men on the pitch, which wasn't the cleverest thing to do at the time, and suddenly, we're in a... literally a court room." "We won the world cup by a drop goal." "The amount of hours over years and years and years that went into that is huge." "Butthe humble bumble bee flies when it shouldn't." "And in 2007, with a population so small it would fit into a stadium, Tonga did too." "¶ ¶ when they found themselves in the group of death with the mighty South Africa and world champions, england." "Our budget for the whole world cup," "I think was something like..." "Their washing budget." "They have the best kit, but that team is still pretty ugly, aren't they?" "It's quite sad, really." "You can have all the money in the world." "They got hit by the ugly stick." "Imean,we wasstaying in a church hall in Tonga." "Couldn't even have kit." "The team just looked like a bunch of fishermen rather than an international team going to the world cup." "I remember that vividly, we went to the airport, it's only the family of the players came to see us off." "Tonga media, they said it's the worst..." "Tongan team to ever leave the shore." "But they didn't account for the power of inspiration in the face of adversity." "I think we had like four guys from Tonga." "And the rest of us were playing overseas." "Nili latu was captain." "Thewayhe plays is what I enjoy most about nili." "He is more action than his words." "Mostteams,they're probably tagging me as a small player." "There's a little story in the Bible, it's about David and goliath." "You know, David was a Christian and he was small." "But goliath was one of the best warriors." "But because David trusted in God, he killed him." "And I feel small before games." "But once I put on the Jersey," "I feel I'm one of the biggest guys on the field." "SoTongawould defy logic that year in France and come as close as anyone to changing an international sport forever." "All the great pacific island teams have done the same." "You improvise around what you lack and take strength from what you have." "That is the reason they compete against the odds." "All we have is our belief, our history, our blood." "Thousandsof years before the vikings and battling against prevailing winds, a sea-faring people swept across the vast pacific ocean in the most dramatic burst of overwater exploration in history." "I've spent 48 years exploring." "It's a way I make a living." "Done the first journey round earth, vertically, on its surface, and climbed Everest." "First to both poles, north and South." "And our Jack Russell is the first dog ever to have peed on both poles." "And everything was planned on the seasons, well in advance." "The polynesians had no idea at all what they were getting into." "It's 10,000 meters deep, the pacific ocean, which covers a third of the whole surface of earth." "And somewhere in the middle, like pinpricks, are these little tiny islands." "It's a big mystery how the hell anybody got there." "But when they did get there, they must have been tough." "There's a lot of love in the islands, expressed mainly through warfare." "And the subsequent eating of individuals." "It was the introduction of bay leaves that really kicked things off." "Theninthe 1770s, the brits turned up and started planting their flag about the place." " Any more tea, mademoiselle?" " No." " Any more tea master?" " No." "The girls are half naked." "Straight away, for any sailor, can't wait for a bit of shore leave here." "And then of course, once you get off and realize that you're a runt amongst giants..." "Suddenly things don't look so good." "It'sbecausewe  were seafarers." "Obviously sailing was one, but then we row a lot." "And you always think that that's how pacific islanders sort of build their particular type of gene, I guess." "Tobeable to get to the pacific islands would have required significant endurance, strength, and determination." "Those individuals that made it there are going to be the strongest and the fittest." "Soon after the sailors, the missionaries arrived and had a profound effect on the islanders' beliefs with the introduction of christianity and a new pastime." "Rugby is a ferocious way of not killing your neighbor, but having a good go at your neighbor." "They'vealways struggled to get enough pairs of boots." "That is why the Christian missionaries were welcome, 'cause they had boots." "It's a matter of being able to catch them and then eat them, so they could get the boots." "I reckon rugby as a whole really suits us 'cause we're quite big-boned, we love to get outside." "To tell the truth, you don't need may brains to play rugby, you know?" "And it's fun." "They'retheperfect specimens for rugby union." "Explosive, big, blessed with a lot of skills." "I've no doubt that the influence of the pacific islanders on rugby has indeed changed the game for the better." "Guys have got to get bigger but they gotta stay as fast, or they've gotta get faster while staying just as big." "It's also given control of animosity and aggression to the game, which, let's face it, makes it what it is." "For the past year, in Auckland, especially, there's more white kids choosing to play soccer." "And you can understand why." "There'sa sense of David v. Goliath." "But in this case, David is built like goliath." "They are disproportionately ready to play this game." "Now I'm a midget, five foot eight." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "But when you look at the islanders, it's only a small pool of people compared to the u.K., yet they still produce these machines." "First time I went to New Zealand," "Jonah lumo was the absolute world star of rugby." "And it just struck me, how may Jonah lumos" "I could see when I walked out into the airport." "You realized he's not that much of a freak, and actually these are huge men with the genetic tools, if you like, to play the game." "Jonahlumo, giant of a man." "Jonahlumo, honed on the rugby paddocks of New Zealand." "Thisis the big man lumo." "Of tongan blood." "Therewas no stopping him at all." "My first memory playing against islander players was Jonah lumo." "Underwood's got terrific pace." "So has lumo." "Such a huge guy, huge strength." "And it's always difficult to play against this kind of player." "Thisis good running..." "England have a real chance." "What a great tackle from lumo." "He's always been one to be proud of his heritage." "Also proud that he was an all black." "Thatthe people just bounce off him." "They'restill kind of very much flying their internal flag of the island they all grew up, their parents are from." "And Jonah was a pivotal example of it." "Howdoyou stop this fellow, lumo?" "I'mhopingnotto see him again, myself." "He's awesome, he's a freak, and the sooner he goes away, the better." "Fijihadthespeed." "They're tall, they can go at speed." "Tonga had all the size." "And Samoa had all the good looking guys." "Andin1987, the rugby world cup was born." "The knock on effect for the islanders was profound." "Finally, every four years, a chance to reconnect with their warrior past on the global stage." "The Fijians reminded the world that the sport should be entertaining and sidestepped their way into the quarter finals to lose out to France, setting the benchmark for all pacific island teams since." "Lookat the pace from this man down the left-hand side." "The islands themselves would have been on fire, knowing that Fiji were lining up to play teams they'd only ever heard of." "Maybe even Scotland, this far off land." "Ifthestandard of the war dance is a measure of the standard of play, then in 1987," "Tonga were a work in progress." "It's well-choreographed, anyhow." "Then, four years later, another pacific island team turned up out of the blue with an inspirational leader." "Everyonesawwhathe was like on the fields." "He was so passionate about samoan rugby and where it could go." "He had the vision of where it could be, making the team successful." "Peterfatialof, his occupation, piano mover." "You could get one in three of the population of Western Samoa into this stadium." "Just 160,000 souls on the island 300 Miles northeast of Fiji." "Nooneknows about Samoa." "We were called Western Samoa at the time." "And I think there was a joke in wales like, luckily we only play against Western Samoa." "Imagine what we're gonna get, you know, if we play the whole of Samoa." "Everybodyjust thought, it's a given, really, you're gonna beat a side like Western Samoa." "First world cup they are in and obviously a country with all the prestige and tradition of wales." "Yeah, and they turned us over." "We really wanted to have a go and came in on a good day against wales." "It kind of woke Samoa up, but I think it also woke the rest of the world up." "Thisis the Western samoans' day." "Thephysicality that they brought to the game, you know, the welsh team just could not live with." "Myword, they do tackle well, these samoans." "Theclashing at the breakdown." "You can still see the welsh just reeling out the back of rucks, heads shaking, wondering what had hit them." "To'ovaega, the samoan legend." "His wife gave birth during the world cup, and he named his son Cardiff." "Maybe the emotion take over." "A mate of mine called his son bridgend." "Andeight years later, they were back." "It was a new stage, but the same old story." "The millennium stadium had just been built for the world cup, and they'd done ten games unbeaten." "For that whole game, it just fell into place for us." "By the time the world cup came around in '99, we had this brand new stadium, it was immense." "And we'd been, obviously, following Western Samoa's progress, you know." "Shock in '91, then it was the quarterfinals in '95, and then in '99, they went and bloody did it again, didn't they?" "Stevenbachop, he's gonna get his second score." "And Samoa have taken it dramatically." "They did to us what we like to do to england basically." "Run!" "Inga the winger tuigamala." "Inga tuigamala and pat lam, these were two guys that were as far as I was concerned, the two best rugby players on the planet." "Now it's tuigamala." "My entire early inspiration came from watching these two guys, and just watching them let rip on a field week in week out, and the one thing I always wanted of theirs" "I couldn't get was the smile." "The fact that while they were doing it they were laughing amongst each other, they were laughing." "I could never get that because I don't think." "I ever had the confidence they did." "I don't think there could have been a more positive influence to have on your career or life." "I don't know what it is about Cardiff," "I think the pacific island boys get inspired by something in Cardiff." "An interception though." "Wales again playing into the hands of the samoans." "And pat lam, goes all the way." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "History has repeated itself." "Well,whatIwould say to him is just, you know, join us." "It's lovely and green, and we like a good singsong as well." "Come play with us." "On the same team." "Cheers." "Tongaisquiteremote, a country of 120,000 people." "And yet there is more tongan living outside Tonga than in Tonga." "IwasborninTonga, in a little village." "The place I grew up in Tonga was built by my grandfather, and it is not probably the standard that foreigners are used to, but we made the best of everything back in Tonga." "You know there was my grandfather, grandmother, uncles and aunties and us staying in one little place just out farming." "Igrewup in Samoa, and after school, you know, you walk back, and try and look for ride." "I started making friends with those lorry drivers." "Those are the really good times because that's when I started playing rugby." "Myparents made a lot of sacrifices to move over to New Zealand." "They saw it as a good chance of getting a brighter future." "You got to wear rugby boots and all wearing the same jerseys and shorts." "You don't get that in Tonga." "I was alright at rugby and I expected to have a life with rugby and out of school." "You felt like you were someone if you play well, especially in new Zealand, of course." "Wella lotof  these tongans, of course, are playing their rugby in New Zealand." "It was a free visa window in New Zealand, and a whole lot of tongan migrated." "Otai, the receiver." "In my school it was all pakeha or Europeans and I was, myself, pat lam, and a couple of others were the polynesians." "I was the minority then, but now it's very different." "Moving to new Zealand was just like wearing a pair of shoes for the first time." "Good meals." "Hot water." "First shower." "My dad went from job to job in New Zealand." "Factory working, out working in the farm." "Took me a while to settle in." "As polynesians we were called the fobs." "A fob is somebody that cannot read English." "So it was like a fob way of wearing a suit with your flip-flops." "That is a fob way." "Cametouk ageof17." "Just outside of newcastle there's a little club called tynedale." "It's a strong farming area and my first experience of seeing snow." "Everyone look at you funny as you are the only brown dark fella that hangs around there, who would've wearing shorts and stuff during winter." "We're spreading, we're still migrating as we, our forefather used to." "If you look at new Zealand right now, there's more and more pacific islanders coming through." "There'sa duality in New Zealand." "It is a pacific island, actually, and people of the pacific do live there." "And have lived there long before any contact from the Western world." "As much as my white brothers and sisters think it's their country, there's a maori context there, it is Samoa's country, it's Fiji's country, it's Tonga's country." "It's to tana umaga." "In the sport of rugby, the offshoot of this economic migration was mixed loyalties." "Sometimes within the same family." "A case in point, Mike and tana umaga, the sons of samoan immigrants to New Zealand." "Prettymuchheld out, you know, like any other kiwi, hanging out for a black Jersey." "Mikerealized the clock was ticking and opted to play for Samoa." "Meanwhile, younger brother tana was playing for New Zealand colts." "We sat down and he said," ""I'd like to come and join you with Samoa."" "I definitely welled up and it was like, "that's a big call."" "I love you to bits but I don't think it is for you, mate." "I'll go down this path and you go down that one." ""We'll see what happens."" "You are in the set up you might as well stick with it and go after that black Jersey." "It would have been nice for our dad to see both his sons play for the same country but in a way we still played for his countries, you know?" "Andtana became the first player of samoan heritage to captain the all blacks." "Thefinancialgains just totally outweighed each other." "I think I got a couple of pigs and a lamb," "And he got a few million pounds." "One thing I do remember about my time with the samoan team, it was fun." "You can still be professional and have fun." "Butforthe Fijians, with their strong links to the commonwealth, there is another path of migration." "A lot of the guys have been through military training." "Some guys I played with in the Fiji national side are actually still involved in the military." "If I can put the analogy from the rugby field to the battle field, the tongans are the heavy artillery." "You have the ground troops who would be the samoans, going in, hitting hard, and actually taking out that target." "And another way of doing it without the use of the first two, is to use the special forces." "Going in quickly, speed, controlled aggression, complete surprise." "To me that would be the Fijians." "Whilst I served in the regiment, we had the famous iranian embassy siege in London in 1980 where 30,000 people claimed to have been on that balcony." "I was lucky enough to have been there." "I was one of six to pass out of just under 100." "On passing selection, I was sent to b squadron." "They had a troop sergeant, a monster of a man, called Fred." "I thought he was a giant Gurkha." "I'd never seen a Fijian before, and thankfully, I kept my thought to myself." "There were six Fijians in the regiment over that period, and this is the early to mid-1970s." "Sadly one died at the famous battle of mirbat." "Irememberplaying the regiment, the sas." "Quite strange going in there, everybody knows about the sas and their reputation." "There's only a couple of statues and one of them is the Fijian soldier labalaba." "Not a lot of people will have heard his name or actually realize the high regard that he has and every sas soldier that's been through there knows his story inside and out." "That someone from a little island in the pacific to be honored in that way, you can't get a bigger honor than that." "And if you can go to any army base and they've got a rugby team, you're sure to find a few Fijians playing in their team." "Andwhat better way to express those special forces skills than in the game of sevens, where who dares wins." "It'sbeen scientifically proven to actually have been the game invented for Fijians." "They are a superb blend of power and grace, and speed." "With just that hint of time lord behavior that only the doctor can muster." "Sofor Fiji, the question is, how do you dovetail your natural flair into the structured and brutal 15 a side game?" "I'vegotamaori mother and a Fijian dad." "The dream was personally to be an all black." "It always is, even for islanders, you know." "To be an all black supersedes your own blood because it's such a thing!" "And my Uncle Walter was an all black." "50 tests for the all black's which is good." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "Pure new professional amateur." "Nowwatch the power of this man," "Walter little." "You'd have him on the team because he can sing and dance and play guitar." "Great guy, funny." "Oh, he can play rugby a bit too." "AndWalterlittle, Josh kronfeld, here's another chance for the big man!" "Youknoweveryone expected for me to do like him," ""and I was like," hey, man, that's Walter little," "I'm his brother's son, that's not gonna..." ""I'm not gonna be anything like that."" "And people say, "oh."" "And that little, "oh", is the fuel that drove me." "I'm not gonna be shit though." "20yearsafter the last quarter final, the Fijians had a chance to get there again." "The opposition in their way, Samoa's favorite rugby giants, wales." "Itwasthelastgame  of the group stages for us." "Expected to win and face South Africa the following week." "When they are together for a period of time, not only Fiji but the other teams as well, they are the most naturally gifted rugby players you'll ever see." "Nickylittlehad been practicing and he came over to talk to us and he said," ""lads, some days we're sitting under the coconut tree and some days we're rowing the boat."" "We just sat there watching it thinking," "Nicky, you are rowing the boat." "The whole team was free, it's our last shot." "It's wales we are not going to beat them but let's lose well." "We would rather nearly score ten tries than win a game six nil." "Hey, you won the world cup." "Yeah but that game was rubbish, eh?" "Everything was off the cuff, and that's why there is such a warmth of feeling towards the pacific teams in this part of the world." "And wales had plenty of it at the time as well actually and so they got dragged into an all singing all dancing game." "Well if you're gonna play like that" "Fiji can play you like that all night." "Whyareyouguys in the red shirts throwing the ball around like we do?" "The crowd loved it so of course they did, yeah, the crowd loves it, so I go there and, what are you doing?" "Wecouldn't compete on the day against Fiji." "We came back but you never know what's gonna happen against the pacific island boys." "What they are gonna pull off." "That's the beauty of the game." "We get tries against us because the boys couldn't give..." "Those are the tries that piss me off, and we talking about being Fiji warriors, what are we doing here?" "And then I look at their faces and they're not looking at me going, yeah." "They're looking around going." "Amid my speech one guy goes like this, how much longer?" "And it just knocks me out, because it's so nice at home they just want to go back home." "I guess that's why people come and watch us play because it's free." "Anyway, we mucked it up, we won." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "And the boys are like, "awesome", giggling." "Ifthesameteams win all the time and there are no upsets, it's a pretty boring world cup, isn't it?" "For the good of the game, hopefully the pacific island teams can pull off a few more shocks, but against some other, england maybe, or France, or Ireland, rather than wales." "I've always liked the South sea islanders, even as a welshman, because I've seen them as outsiders as well." "And I like the fact that they're kind of rag-taggle more." "I was in the 2007 world cup." "I was working for itv wales." "And I was first on the pitch after the game." "It was an amazing sort of experience to see them all singing together afterwards." "It had some of that spirit, ethos, of what was an amateur game, originally, and the idea that they were playing for each other, nothing else but the glory of coming from Fiji." "Butthose amateur days were long gone." "There was a new type of immigrant from the pacific islands." "The professional rugby player." "You were never going to become a wealthy person by playing rugby union in the islands." "That's not gonna happen." "And in terms of bang for buck," "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "Shouldyounot make the all blacks, that there was a lot more opportunities out there." "Not just in New Zealand, not just in Australia, but, you know, over here in Europe." "Your dream comes true you line up next to the likes of the Andrews, the jonny wilkinson, we start together at newcastle." "The inga tuigamala, the pat lam." "The things that you always dream of as a kid." "Epiwasjust this huge, huge guy." "I think people recognized that they were dealing with someone and something very different." "A little bit special, and when I say different I mean, very different." "Easily for me the most dangerous player in the league." "In about five or six hundred years' time, they will uncover the skull of epi taione." "Iplaywing." "Fullback, but can't kick." "And this will be after nuclear war." "I play number six and number eight." "Super humans walked amongst us." "I play at twelfth." "Play center, play the loose forward." "And play a bit at lock." "He probably doesn't realize he's a superhuman." "And so he just conducted himself as a normal country boy from the islands." "Since1987, Fijian flair and samoan smashes, had taken the fight to the big guns." "For Tonga, the smallest of the three with only 5,000 registered players, victories were rare, but fireworks were frequent." "The tongans have just lost their discipline completely." "When I think about that game, I think it was that the one where we got beaten by 100 points." "Yeah, I was playing." "I was on the bench." "19 year old and one of our players got red carded." "That was really stupid." "Went to warm up, the points was already 60 or something like that, so it was only me quite keen to get in there, super excited." "Knocked forward, great effort." "That's taione the big winger." "10 years later I would have just stayed in the bathroom there and hide there." "Taione, just like lumo, stepping out of tackles." "Look at that score line." "England 101, Tonga 10." "A hundred and one, Tonga 10" "Eightyears later, with six weeks to go until the next tournament in France, epi taione, now a well-traveled pro, received a phone call from Tonga." "In the buildup to a world cup, a major logistical problem for pacific island teams is the limited time for training and where to do it." "To face up to pressure and to big games like that without preparation is something that I very, very, very, much struggled with." "It takes incredible mental strength to overcome that and go out and flourish." "2007,thething that stands out to me is epi." "Still to this day that some of those players still don't realize what he did." "He did so much work." "Wegottheteam to Manchester and a local club helped us out but it wasn't enough." "Yeah, we did have our fair share of running around to find parks in Manchester to train on." "Iseeallsortsof things in this park." "Jogging and dogging." "I don't remember everything." "I do remember these guys." "They looked different." "Very tall and big." "A couple of them had dreadlocks like me you know." "It just remind of me of Bob Marley." "A guy with a big afro remind me of Michael Jackson back in the day." "They looked cool." "There are so many public parks we've trained in between 2007 and now that I've lost count." "They wasn't actually training in a stadium, they was here in the park where I work." "Itjustbringus more closer together." "I was watching TV and all of a sudden, said to my wife, "look, look, I see these people"" "in the park where I work."" "And she didn't believe me." "I didn't know they was so famous." "Themajorityof  the island teams are very, very low maintenance because they are so relaxed and laid back." "As long as there is a strong supply of protein, eight days a week, then there really shouldn't really be any problems." "Onethingwith islanders teams, they have good appetite." "Yeah, I can see the food is cooked." "InManchester, we went to the pub and everyone was so happy, and we end up eat 150 kilos of chicken." "I didn't really eat that much... that day." "I was standing outside when they went to next door and get some more chips." "There are genetic influences on what we call body mass index, so a ratio between their height and their weight, but there are also genetic influences on your ability to stop eating when you are full." "But these things are very culturally driven as well, and also driven by just the available resources." "So when they reached these islands there were lots of fish, lots of fertile ground from volcanos." "Optimum conditions for really developing elite bodies." "New Zealand was conquered by religious extremists." "Australia was conquered by criminality." "The islands were..." "Basically conquered by fast food." "Apopulardietof theirs is whiskey and kfc." "I'm not sure I will be too popular saying that but they do like it and you know, it has got its place." "Wehadatrainerand he is used to pacific islanders, and the menu consists of healthy stuff you know, your pasta, fish." "And we always have these fat tests, and the whole time we were in Manchester, he didn't really see any improvement at all." "The boys seem to eat all their pasta, eat all their vegetables." "Little did he realize that straight after we had that everyone jump in cabs and said we're going to the movies but really we would just go around the corner to the kfc and just go and just absolutely destroy it." "I always remember some of the early thoughts on inga at wigan." "He got this sponsored car and it was massive, and I think just because he was a big unit" "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "it was always outside kfc." "Wearrivedin France, and the South of France are very passionate about their sports and especially rugby." "It was funny watching the wallabies training, and they have 5000, 6000 people, and we rock up to our training and we have a lady and dog and also a mormon family." "They found out there's mormon boys on the team." "Unfortunately for Tonga, they found themselves in the group of death, along with the U.S.A., Samoa, the current world champions, england, and the formidable former world champions," "South Africa." "Canyouremember, like, your hotel and all that?" "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "You remember the name of it?" "Nope." "I remember there's a..." "I can't remember the animals, but they made noises every night." "A farm spot there." "There was a..." "I'm not good with animals, but..." "Those ones that look like a donkey or... cry, making some noises." "And we just rocked in and enjoyed it." "Thepassion of the pre-match war dance has become a highlight for all rugby fans, and the ferocity of the action is matched by the words." "Ishallspeakto the whole world." "The sea eagle is famished, his wings unfurl." "Let the foreigner and sojourner beware, today destroyer of souls I am everywhere." "To the half backs and backs gone has my humanity." "Maul and loose forwards I shall mow you down." "Crush any fierce hearts you may know." "Oceans I drink, fire I dine." "To death or victory my will is fire." "That's how Tonga dies to her motto." "To her motto, Tonga gives all." "OnethingthatIfound easiest to bring over, just to tighten our group was basically like a millimilli clap from Samoa." "But you know, the boys love it." "Next thing is they've seen the YouTube clips of Freddie." "And they're asking questions like," ""Mike is there any chance we can learn that song?"" "We knew it wasn't gonna be an easy game." "They had a few tongans in their team." "It was my first time playing against U.S." "Finau was at eight, nili was at seven, and I was at six." "Finaumaka was well known as kia outu." "It means brain eater." "Before finau joined us he was injured." "He did his calf muscle so everyone like doubt whether he would be the force he was." "I remember that game and I was just in awe of the guy." "He hit about three guys and just absolutely wrecked them." "He was just special that day and we know he is the man to lead the charge." "That is why he was the star of the 2007 world cup." "We won that game." "We made lots of mistakes." "It could have been a lot more scores in there." "It just set the tone for our world cup." "Allthevillages,there is houses dotted around open spaces and then this church which dominates the whole place." "Webaseourselves on Christian values and we try to have that as our foundation and our core of being." "WhenI waswith the samoan team, before dinner there's a service where there's a Bible reading," "then there's songs, and then we go eat," "and it really strengthens everybody." "So I think when people saw that they say, well, they're all praying and then they go smash people." "What's that about?" "And it's more about, you know, I think Michael Jones hit it on the head and he said," ""it's better to give than to receive."" "That was a famous scripture reading he used." "MichaelJones there, the all black flanker who refuses to play on a Sunday." "We've all been given gifts and talents and the gift we give back to God is what we do with that talent." "It always rears its ugly head, religion, it always does." "It's a big part of island culture so sure," "I love the singing, I go to church but" "I find having an imaginary friend a bit..." "Unscientific." "I've always had a desire and a passion to serve my people and my community and what better way than to get involved in something that I always was passionate before rugby." "WhenI was playing at wigan we heard that this guy was coming." "Vainga tuigamala." "He took me under his wing a bit." "He saw a young lad, lots of talent, but he knew off the field I was struggling a bit." "I couldn't make out why he was so happy." "He hasn't got the nicest car in the car park, you know he's not talking about money all the time." "What is it?" "And I realized just what it was." "And it was his faith." "And he became like a big brother." "And I can remember one time he came to me and said," ""I had a dream about you last night."" "And I was thinking, "oh yeah?"" "You had a dream about me?"" "And he said..." ""In this dream I saw you and you were stood on top of the world."" "And then he said, "but as I watched, it started to crumble from under your feet."" "And that, I'll never forget that for as long as I live, because that was just how my life was." "I went to a few Bible studies." "I can remember seeing frano botica, Shaun Edwards, myself, Apollo perilini." "I think at first it's quite uncomfortable, but then it just became so freeing." "It binds them all together." "They are a big bunch." "They hit hard, they play hard, but their greatest strength, for me," "is their religion, their beliefs." "Thedovethatwedo have on our emblem." "That dove is named tui taka." "In the Bible story of Noah's arc in the flooding, when the dove came back with the olive leaf in its beak," "what it brought back was hope that there is dry land." "You know, we used to laugh about it, but we think, if the dove was sent out in Tonga it would have come back with a coconut." "I believe God's got a plan for me and purpose for me, and so I'm sure this is his calling for me to do for my country." "AftertheU.S.match, something amazing happened." "The local villagers really got behind us." "Weworked very hard to attract the Tonga team." "It was a meeting of minds." "All the population were proud to be chosen as a place for training and to stay." "They were stars but they did not behave like stars." "They behave as if they were in the family." "They were ambassadors of Tonga, but even at clapiers." "Always willing to answer question, to smile." "AteamlikeTonga, they've come through hardship just to be where they are." "The French are not going to let a romantic notion like this go by untouched." "Of course they're going to open their arms and embrace them and give them the community that they don't have, which is tens of thousands of kilometers away in the middle of the pacific ocean." "Thelocalswelcomeus." "Next minute we know, we have a few hundred, a thousand coming to watch us training." "It was quite amazing." "Hello, I'm gautier." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "I support Montpelier and Tonga." "Tonga was really tall." "He have skirt and flip-flops." "It's very tall." "Themayorhostedus and we felt like at home." "Everywhere we went, there was flags up." "I think we had a barbecue every afternoon." "And we were pleased to see they had good taste." "We were the smallest country involved in the world cup, and I think we still are." "To see the French start to accept us, we will always be thankful." "Especially spending time here in england, they have a totally different view of the French." "I see the good French, when I think I was just brainwashed by the English when I spent too much time here." "We had relatives and friends sleeping in the boys rooms the night before the samoan game." "That says a lot about not only the team but the tongan people." "You imagine someone in the england team or welsh team giving up their bed the night before a big game." "Everytimethepacific boys come together." "I think it brings out the best of both nations." "There is more on the line for us playing our samoan brothers." "Five, six weeks before the world cup they beat us" "53-3 in Samoa, and it was the same team that we play six weeks later." "You know, that changing room before we went everyone was just pumping, the look on their eyes, we were ready for them." "Finau maka was hitting his head on the wall, so I went and called my mate suka, so we both come and pretend that we stretch, but we were watching him." "It was quite a sight, that one." "TongaSamoa." "That kind of passion." "You definitely learn a lot about yourself." "If you came through that, that was your initiation." "When you pay money to see Samoa and Tonga play, you watch big hits." "These boys are like marauding sharks." "They just want to do the big hits." "A couple of my best friends were playing for Samoa that game." "Leading up to the game all the talk between us and the samoans." "The Australians were at the game." "They bought their tickets early because they knew it was going to be a head hunting game." "The mixture of scared and nervous and fear," ""I said to my wife," as soon as I go into a rugby game without fear or excitement," ""that's when I am going to retire."" "Itwasawar for us." "Bring out the old rivalry in the pacific island, and that's how we approached it, that game." "You have that type of feeling." "Just there's no chance that Samoa would've beat us that day." "Pickedupthere by the right winger tagicakibau, a quick release here would be good for Samoa but look at this." "He's giving the yellow card." "Thank goodness it wasn't biting or stepping on anyone's head or punching." "Andit'sepeli taione who's been sin binned, the center." "I personally think it was unlucky." "It wasn't my fault." "It's not a new thing for epi." "You know, he's known for that color." "Lookat this number 8 move." "Finau maka." "He's absolutely pumped up." "Both sides have a reputation of incredibly hard and sometimes bordering on illegal tackling." "They like to hit in the chest." "That was a very high tackle there." "High challenge going in." "Hale t pole being called over by the ref." "It's foul play." "No more." "Ref called me over and said, "talk to your team"" "'cause of your discipline,"" "so I said to the boys, "we're going back to plan b."" "And everybody looked at me and goes," ""what are you talking about?"" "Epitaione was back on the pitch and hungry for action, but had forgotten his position." "It was like a 90 meter break away try, wasn't it?" "Andthis is gonna be close, and the try is given." "In fact it was only two meters, but it feel like a 90 meter break." "Epitaione and goodness only knows what the center was doing in the middle of that rolling maul." "Here's hale t pole again." "And nili latu is shaking his head saying, "oh, surely not", but this time he's gone." "Oh, it's a red card, my goodness." "Hale got red carded for shit haircut." "They can't really tell the difference because all of them had the same hair that day, finau maka, hale, paino." "I mean, the referees probably just can't bear the sight of them and decided to get rid of one of the uglier ones so poor hale was on the receiving end of that." "Itisgoingto be all out attack now by Samoa and this is better." "My goodness me a big high tackle coming in there by viliami vaki." "Was it viliami vaki?" "No is wasn't, it was actually toma toke." "Halegotsentoff  and our prop got sent off." "For the last eight to nine minutes." "Tongans are down to 13 players." "Thatisthegame that stands out the most for me from that 2007 world cup." "Doesn't help when I got red carded, am I allowed to say that?" "And Tonga are just tackling anything that's wearing blue at the moment." "Wejustdriftand  tackle our heart out and end up winning that game." "I think that was the moment that the boys realized, we could go all the way here." "We can beat england and South Africa." "It was just a great win and a great effort from the team." "I'd like to thank almighty God for giving us the strength to play the game today." "To our samoan friends, just a brotherly smack." "Toour brothers in Samoa, a brotherly smack." "Brilliant." "There were plenty of them this afternoon." "Notmanyteamscomeback  from a 13 man down and win a game in the world cup, so awesome." "I'd like to thank the supporters here, the French people are awesome, especially the people from clapiers, where we're staying in the hotel." "Thank you very much for your support." "It's awesome, thank you." "Awesome,awesome." "Absolutely awesome." "It was one of our biggest games ever." "A good friend of mine semo sititi was the captain of Samoa." "It was his birthday, and he had been organizing to have a few drinks after the game." "I broke the drinking curfew." "Yeah, having a whale of a time." "I thought it was only me breaking the curfew, but I went back to the hotel I realized the whole team was absolutely pissed." "We had some local wine." "They drop by and give us a few cases." "In fact a lot." "Wethoughtthat it was the best gift to remember clapiers." "Not a great wine, but a good wine." "And it was just gone." "I mean everyone just smashed it." "First time ever our trainer was happy for us to have kfc, it was like the best present ever that was." "My best bit of advice for any pacific islander is to slow down with the Southern fried chicken." "Make yourself a smaller target." "They're not always doing everything by the book, they're not always following all the strict protocols, ticking all the boxes, diligently doing what they're told, but somehow the fact that they have got a bit of genius in them seems to" "capture peoples' imaginations." "Maybe because rugby has not been professional that long, there is still more of that mindset in there." "Probably the most talented player." "I think I've ever seen was rupeni caucau." "I won't try and pronounce the rest of his name, but I think you know who I'm talking about." "The guy's got footwork, he's got power, pace, skill." "Amazing, there's no words." "Running around rougerie like he's not there." "What a talent." "Hewas my favorite player." "No one could compete against him." "To be personally sponsored by nike to be the face." "You're pretty good, eh?" "They don't do that to any mug." "Oh,thatis  a wonderful, wonderful try." "All agree to shoot this commercial for nike and they went all over Fiji." "They couldn't find the guy, he just disappear." "Eating the wrong thing, smoking the wrong thing, drinking the wrong thing, but then next thing he'll be there buying a generator for his village." "Imeantheguy was  an absolute legend." "He was loose as anything, just completely loose as a goose the fella." "Younger players coming through, they just need to lighten up I guess." "They're not funny at all." "Have a chat with them, you can't have decent conversation with the fella because he's always like talking about protein shake and stuff, you know what the..." "Buttwodays before Tonga defeated Samoa, world champions england were bulldozed by the mighty South Africa." "My South African brothers." "Huge people." "Very physical approach of the game." "It'sa partof  our culture and in our blood, the game rugby." "That's our number one sport in South Africa." "You study your enemy, you must get your ammunition together with you." "It's in our blood." "As a springbok, they love playing with guns and talking about 0600 and things like that." "This is the part of the boyhood dream in South Africa, getting your first assault rifle and maybe lobbing a grenade here and there before lunchtime." "They are maniacs." "I'm a big, big massive hunter." "I've been hunting now for years." "That's where the biltong is coming from as well." "That dried meat that we put in our backpacks." "Youwantto makea South African furious, just simply hit him where it hurts." "Take all his dried meat." "We were just running around chasing shadows wondering when the hell it was gonna stop." "South Africa was hitting top form." "It was just 100 Miles an hour, 100%, and they had us on the rack." "It is in us from a small age, to be competitive, fight for what you want in life to perform and find success in that way." "I love the physical stuff." "I am turning 35 and I've still got that hunger." "I don't wanna be a failure." "Aweek after the bloodbath, it was Tonga's turn." "South Africa may have become the bookies' favorite to win the world cup, but the fans' team was Tonga." "Everyone's favorite underdog." "If they could win, they were through to the quarter finals for the first time." "We genuinely believed that we were gonna beat them." "Thesupportwe got was just amazing." "The crowd cheering for Tonga." "It just felt like we were in Tonga." "Our coach said to us, "what's our purpose?"" "There was only two of us that stood up and said, "we wanna win this world cup."" "Myself and aleki latui, we said, "we're not going just to participate"" "in this tournament."" "The word "mate"." "Mate means die." "Die for our country, so that was our motive." "It is amazing always to run out on a pitch, see the haka." "It just gives me goose bumps for the first ruck to make some contact." "11changesto  the side that took apart england by 36 points to nil." "Maybe they thought it was gonna be an easy game." "Gonna be interesting to see how the tongans get on after losing hale t pole, the player suspended after being sent off against the samoans." "Jp pietersen in all sorts of trouble and that's gone forward and a penalty conceded in an eminently kickable position." "Verygood defense from the tongans." "Springboks are not clicking as a team at the moment, that seems to be the problem." "And the tongans have very quickly got involved." "Well, when the springboks get wound up they are a pretty interesting bunch." "Thisis something you don't see that often these days." "You've gotta maintain some enthusiasm if you're a springbok because it takes nearly four and a half minutes to sing your national anthem." "Verymuch doubt that this one's gonna go anywhere but straight over the middle." "And that's how wrong you can get." "I've never seen them being like that." "Rattled." "And here comes taione." "They start arguing against each other." "For us, we sense it." "Not a bad bench, is it?" "Nota bad bench, certainly not." "There's a little bit of experience there, isn't there?" "Andthe referee's whistle goes." "He'sgoing back for the earlier penalty." "Andthey're taking it quickly, and they're gonna score a try." "It's piennar." "It'stypical of test rugby." "Our concentration dropped." "An exceptional team like South Africa will take advantage of that." "Oh,he's got that one right." "Wehadatry that was disallowed." "Soane Tonga'uiha." "The pass was good" "but the referee's whistle has gone." "Tongawho'sthatsort of team that once there's a bit of blood in the water the tails go up and it can turn into an absolute free for all." "They just set about physically dismantling a springbok team that people thought were impervious." "The people got onto their feet and it's just amazing how people get behind a team that's the underdogs." "Whenthedirty stuff starts flying, you know you've got them on the back foot." "Nililatu drives toward the line." "He just needs some support." "They go blind again and they are over line now." "It's a try for the tongans, well that is greeted by the crowd with the biggest roar of the day." "Well, finau maka, I mean he's got big hair." "Witha haircut like that the sky is the limit." "They put the whole bench all together to come in and save them." "Thisis a sign of respect now from the South African coaching staff." "They have got to get their front line players onto the field to try an rescue the situation." "This is the first victory for Tonga already, I believe." "The big guns are on." "This is looking rather ominous at this stage." "And it's John Smith who is definitely one of the quickest hookers around in world rugby, and still going through the hands." "It is a quite delightful try." "Weareaproudnationand we talk about, you know, we're warriors and stuff, and I always believe big games, if we do call ourselves warriors, that's the time you come out." "Small nation but you still can punch above your weight." "Andthe tongans go once again, punching holes round the side with viliami vaki." "It'sa  beautiful kick to the corner, taken a touchdown." "Allofasuddenagame that you had in hand is no longer firmly in hand." "The South africans experienced polynesian rugby at its absolute physical peak in 2007." "Justwatchingwhat that team did, how they played." "The threatening nature of everything they were doing." "How much it unsettled a team as good as South Africa who obviously went on to win the world cup." "You get within five points and you sort of say," ""oh, it's been an amazing effort, but it's gonna stop there."" "Within five points with a chance to win it they deserved to be there, and then that last play made you realize that that could have changed everything." "Akickdownthe  line, and if it stays in play that could have been so dangerous." "Itwasliterally just the bounce of the ball." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "I think, that we would have looked at world cups completely differently." "Unfortunately for the neutrals and the tongans, he couldn't quite get on the end of it." "Still it's a springbok line out." "No, it's not, it's the full time whistle." "Well, the tongans have exceeded all possible expectation here in landes." "Ifthatball bounce in, you know, that's probably the biggest upset in rugby world cup." "They were so close." "It's small margins that win us that game." "Youknow, we weren't far off." "In a way the whole world cup, we had to fight for everything." "It was good being a fighter." "What'sgreatabout the pacific island guys is on the pitch they want to hurt you, but after the game amazing people." "Just want to have a beer or two, spending time with you as a player, that's what rugby is all about." "Going to the battlefield, give it to each other and afterwards just shake hands and make friends for the rest of your life." "We were close, but we tongans are quite spiritual when it comes to that stuff and maybe the big man up there doesn't really believe just yet that we deserve to be in that mix." "It doesn't matter how old you are." "Myself and other pacific islanders come here." "We always still have to look after our families." "Yourmum,yourdad , it's your sisters, it's your brothers." "Your uncles and aunties." "Whenever the call comes in for some money, you gonna heed that call." "Theislandguysthey must fight in life for what they want, they're not getting everything on a plate." "If you compare the financial status of a pacific islander compared to one of these heavily funded and sponsored teams." "It is a true rocky story." "Asthegamegets more professional and it is only gonna get more professional, there's no turning back now, we're not going back to the amateur days, the challenges to match the top teams just get harder every year." "I can't remember getting paid at all." "Ex-players brag us and say "stop playing for money, you play for pride and Jersey."" "But you gotta look at it and say, "we are doing that but at the same time, these kids here" ""have got families to feed."" "People have gotta understand that one." "We don't train with coconuts anymore." "It's just basic necessity to train." "I mean you competing against teams who spend millions and millions of pounds." "Knowingepi,that he had connections in Europe at a time when money was quite tight, he came up with the idea that paddy power would donate money and funds into the team." "Paddypower are a gambling company." "We like to think we're an entertainment company really." "Anyone can come up with crazy ideas, but making them work is where the real sweet spot is." "We were brainstorming ideas down the pub after a couple of pints." "Somebody came up with this idea to change a rugby player's name by deed poll to paddy power." "So the commentators would be saying paddy power every time they got the ball." "Genius idea but one slight flaw was that we had to find somebody mad enough to actually go and do it." "He's actually quite a colorful character and had his run ins with authority shall we say, in the past." "They call me paddy power, from Ireland." "Whereabouts in Ireland are you from, paddy?" "Dunkirk." "Can you say that again?" "Duncock." "The ultimate sacrifice as a team player, I guess." "In fact I think he's probably still called paddy power today." "I'm not sure he ever changed his name back." "So he's still paddy power, is he?" "The irb took a bit of a dim view of it." "They wouldn't accept the name change, they told them they weren't going to refer to him as paddy power they were going to refer to him as epi." "This is that off the field side that you may or may not want to rein in." "Yes,thatis theirview on it, fully understand it, but this is a view of a man that basically you push him to a corner and there is only one way to react." "By dying our hair green." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "Anyregrets, though, about doing it?" "Yeah, I could have used a different green." "Leadingupto  the england game, we all turned up with green hair." "It made me look like a predator or something, so they did a couple down the back." "It was just a bizarre moment in my life when I'm standing in a hotel room and there's a production line of eight gigantic rugby players sitting there in their underpants basically discussing whether they're going to get stripes" "or spots or whatever, basically getting their hair dyed." "Thepublicity we had, it went worldwide within a few hours." "Andthen the irb caught wind of it." "They came down to the hotel, basically, and said look," ""we're not gonna let you play with green hair, you've got to dye your hair back."" "If I was in the irb you'd have to be doing the exact same thing." "Ithinkif we knew that the irb were going into it, we could have just like say at the start, dye your hair green and don't say anything." "Just say you like green color or something." "I was told that if you don't dye your hair back we are gonna ban you from the tournament itself." "The team was very together then and everybody was willing to walk." "We'll all walk." "IfI hadto go  back to that moment." "I probably wouldn't have it." "That time we were on a high." "I just didn't think we needed to show how desperate we were." "The paddy power thing is definitely an interesting story." "Maybe the green hair thing was a good thing that got pulled back." "Wehaveareverend in the team." "He spoke once and said, "look, God spoke to me last night"" "and said, "don't do that, and all our hair turned black."" "Being the president and chairman of the union for Tonga, now I take a complete different view of that now." "The paternal relationship that world rugby has with the pacific unions is like no other in sport, and outside of the rugby world cups, world rugby invest millions in funding and development programs." "Without this it is unlikely that the pacific islands would be able to compete." "Thereis Jonah lumo who has come here to watch his brothers take on the defending world champions." "This is a real challenge." "We're up against guys who could and at times should be up there with the best in the world." "During the world cup all teams are supported equally." "Tonga's last game was against england, who without world rugby support have an annual turnover of 150 million pounds." "Jonnywilkinson." "If anyone deserved anything in rugby it is him." "He tried his heart and soul every day." "He treated every training session like his last." "Ifyoutookmeoff the training field you'd would fill me with that kind of anxiety," "I think, that wouldn't be helpful for me." "My problem was completely the opposite of that one." "He was trying to keep me out from clubs and wild nights in newcastle." "There were a few times with epi when we had various functions where, you know, maybe we were all discussing who should be the one to give him a little tug on the back of the shirt to say," "slow down there a bit." "Whoever won the match was through to the quarter finals." "Whoever lost, went home." "Wewereplaying a do-or-die match." "It was just not a stage you wanted to be involved in ever, let alone against a team like Tonga." "Weheard talk of the tongans wearing a lot of green tonight." "It was a bit of sponsorship that was a bit subversive, however." "The support we have is always going to be there." "The prayers from home." "The families, well wishers, and friends." "We prepared massively during the week for epi." "This is the danger player, you know, and in that game their try came from him running at me." "I'm hanging on for life." "When you line up one verses one, epi versus someone else, it's not one verses one." "One versus one would be the equivalent of putting two people on epi." "In tight games, big tournament like that, it comes down to the smallest, tiniest thing ever." "They saw how we reacted on penalties," "I mean we got killed by South Africa the week before on the same thing." "They worked that out well and it was quick thinking." "That's down to preparation, and preparation costs money, and that's the difference." "One thing you always know with the islanders is they're always looking for that big hit." "If you can just send a few dummy runners in there, it's almost a sacrificial lamb 'cause somebody's gonna get absolutely smashed, so long as it's not you that gets smashed, you're alright." "Ijustrememberhearing every hit that they were making." "It was just, oh." "England just had the upper hand after half time." "I wanted to spark up the boys again knowing that we still have hope." "Nili latu, he did get the better of moodos Lewis moody." "In one instant I remember we ran some sort of decoy play but he didn't fall for it at all and he got man and ball and completely flattened him." "Oh, my goodness." "Oh dear, that was from my pass as well." "I felt bad for Lewis on that one, yeah." "It was a good old shot." "Kitchen sink." "It'salmost like being hit by a train." "Ijustsawhim  and I launched." "That's the reason they call him the tongan torpedo." "I wanted to hit him as hard as I can." "Luckilymoodoswas alright but, you know, that's the impact they can have." "They don't sit back, they try and go at you." "Ifitwasn'tmesomeone else would have done it." "By the end of this game, he will need a new nose." "It was just one of those days I saw it coming and I took the opportunity." "It's only a penalty, but it may not just be penalty the next time." "We give it our heart and soul but I think it was just a bridge too far for us." "Everyoneelsehad played pretty much 80 minutes throughout the whole tournament." "A lot of the teams like the top teams, they can afford to put their important players on the sideline to freshen them up." "We couldn't afford to do that." "You sort of like sacrifice pain to get success." "We didn't get the result we wanted against england but it's always a great feeling as a rugby player when you come off knowing you've given it all." "They just didn't realize how good we were until after the tournament." "Then the question came up, if only, if only, if only." "Just God's way." "He didn't want us to go all the way, it's more like he is showing us we gotta believe in ourselves from the beginning." "Wedidmanage to get to the final." "South Africa were the deserved winners of the whole thing, but there is no doubt for me that the way that Tonga played and their journey was one of the biggest stories of that world cup." "Can you give us a few words about this match?" "Ithankedthelordfor the great tournament, then I thanked the people of Tonga for all their support and prayers, then to all our families around the world, then I said, "we came here with no money"," "with no hope, but we definitely left this tournament with our pockets full of joy and love" ""and passion for our country."" "Theseguysare literally rags to riches." "They're not born with a silver spoon in their mouth." "They're true and true warriors, they're fighters, and they will always give these big guns a real real big run for their money." ""We would like to thank all the children from clapiers for making us feel like this is our home." "We really like the posters and the drawings you have done for us." "We will take them to Tonga so we will never forget you." "Good luck in whatever you do." ""Finau maka."" "Butworldcups keep on rolling on, and so does the islanders no fear brand of rugby." "In 2011 Tonga, with a new army of fans, pulled off the biggest ever feat of giant killing in the world cup when they defeated eventual runners up, France." "And Samoa once again put the frighteners on every team in their path." "Thetattoois a symbol of service." "Not only to your family but also to your village." "It also represents samoan culture and living the samoan way." "It's called tatau, it's art." "It took me seven days, three hours a day." "They do it in a traditional way with boar's tooth and shark's tooth." "It is really, really painful, but rarely people die from having a tattoo." "Well, I think I'm gonna talk to you as a chief now so you gotta really be careful what I'm gonna say." "I'm from a family of seven boys." "Six boys play rugby and one is a gay." "One is a gay boy." "Fa'afafine or what do you call it?" "A cross dresser." "We accept the guys that cross dress so it's not a problem, it's part of our community." "With the boys now playing overseas tuli, you know, he's looking after my mum and dad." "Henry and Alex both make it to the international team." "It was such a special moment for myself and for my family." "Me and Henry were here at Leicester." "Alex joined us a year after." "We got Andy, he made it to the samoan team and Leicester signed him." "It's quite unique because I never thought the boys could play rugby." "You know my dad wasn't a rugby player, my dad thinks he's a boxer." "We're always having a laugh about it 'cause he thinks he's a boxer." "Thetuilagi brothers have become this sporting dynasty in the city, and others have followed them to Leicester." "Manu tuilagi is obviously the latest example of that." "Manuplayedsoccer back home at his local school." "He said he was good but I'm sure he's not that good." "We all grew up in Samoa and we all play for Samoa, but you know, with manu, we feel as a family this is where he has developed his rugby and learned his rugby and went to school here." "He is given that opportunity to play for england is a great honor not only for himself but for all of us." "He still supports the samoan team and the boys but, you know, he's proud to represent england." "Here is tuilagi, he just carves them out." "Most of us pacific islanders, we never thought that we gonna play rugby in Europe and now two brothers play for england and another tongan plays for wales." "All these guys, you know, they live here, they were born here, and if you're good enough to represent england, good luck to them." "They'rethekey players for england." "Sometimes it is a bit strange when you're looking through the team sheet and it's england, and you're seeing tuilagi and vunipola, they're not typical English names." "Mynameis ranulph twisleton wykheham fiennes, third baronet of banbury and so it goes on so I can sort of sympathize with the poor polynesians who also suffer from extra-long names." "There will be more tongans and there will be more samoans and Fijians in england and wales in the next few years." "Now money talks, you know." "It'sa tragedyreally because so many players are still having to look at other nations to play for." "To continue their growth they need to retain guys like that." "If you could have everybody, then you would certainly be a much stronger team." "But when you've only got a small pool to start with like Samoa, Tonga have then obviously that's gonna restrict you even more so." "Iplaywithalot of pacific islanders." "It's a third of the wallabies are pacific island heritage." "The amount of quality players with raw talent they produce is amazing." "And historically home games against tier one teams have been scarce in the islands." "It'sallimportantfor  Fiji, Tonga and Samoa to be playing these top tier nations, during a season tour where you really get to test yourself and see where you are ranked in the world and what you can learn." "Ialwaysthink about the kids in Tonga." "They don't know Dan Carter, they don't know Richie mccaw, but they know who nili latu is." "Putting on the tongan Jersey I realize is not just for myself, not for my family, but I think it is for all tongans around the world." "Rugby and sports bring our people together and if you could make them happy in that moment, you're playing a big part so by the time our time is up, hopefully we have set up a platform that every polynesian kid wants to be part of" "and be proud of." "Hopefully the next generation will get that support and that sponsor that we always need." "No pacific island team has won the rugby world cup, but there's a lot of pacific islanders who have won a world cup." "If every country started with 30 of their best players and were given exactly the same resources and every player was paid exactly the same," "I said, "I'd put my money on Tonga", or Samoa, or the Fijians."" "Ithinkit 's a fair call." "If those guys were in a similar situation to a New Zealand or to an Australia," "I would say there's no reason why they wouldn't be a world beating team." "Wouldn't it be great?" "The world wants to see that." "The world wants to see that." "In any sport, they want to see the village team turn up and roll over the city boys." "I think it is good to dream, but then you wake up and it's reality." "There's no way at the moment that any island team's gonna win the world cup." "Because if we do it'd be terrible for rugby as a limited, 'cause that means you don't need all that money." "You don't need 12 physios, you don't need a doctor, you don't need clothes." "You can dye your hair green and change your name." "All you need is to get out there and play like this." "And that's not what rugby is about." "Take the best of your dreams and the best of your reality, and that can happen." "The brand that we want to get out there is not the brand that will make money." "It's the brand that people will know about and love." "Yeah, love." "Sotheold debate about which team is the greatest is easily answered every four years thanks to the rugby world cup." "But there is another fact that is often missed, because the answer lies far away, in the middle of a vast ocean." "Which part of the world produces the greatest raw talent?" "Les iles pacifiques." "The most naturally gifted rugby players in the world." "How good are they?" "Brilliant." "Individually they are the best rugby players I've ever seen." "Ifallwasequal what would you put your money on?" "Pacific warriors." "There's a degree of unpredictability that you can't prepare for yourself." "They seem to be capable of doing everything and I always felt it was up to me to try and keep up with them." "It's intrinsic in their nature to play the game, and, you know, they've got all the attributes." "Smash 'em bro." "Look around you two, three times." "They love the physical stuff." "They get stuck into you and hurt you." "The big question for us islanders has always been the same." "How do we take the next step in our development?" "Sure we can learn from the big guns, training, nutrition, professionalism, but for us it is more than that." "We have to understand and appreciate our own unique beautiful culture and celebrate it." "Yes, we will continue to lose our countrymen to bigger nations." "One day maybe every nation will be 100% pacific islanders, but we should keep fighting, keep trying to get the games and recognition we deserve, because the one thing we can rely on is ourselves." "The next generation will always bring something special to the table." "Whatever it says on their Jersey, a piece of their hearts will always be in the islands." "Sothestory ends where it started thousands of years earlier." "And just like their ancestors who took to their boats and headed out into the wide unknown, these modern day adventurers now do the same, plying their trade across the globe with nothing but their God-given talent." "And one day, at a world cup in the future, maybe, maybe..." "¶ ¶" "♪ Hope it helped - bozxphd ♪"