Digicel Pacific Islanders

Media Release

Post Match Comments

Digicel Pacific Islanders v Scotland Murrayfield 18 November 2006

The Digicel Pacific Islanders once again proved that giving the opposition twenty points head start is no way to win an international test match losing an exhilarating and entertaining game with Scotland 34-22.

After a poor first half which saw the Pacific Islanders head to the dressing room 31-5 down the visitors turned the tables on the Scots and played some scintillating rugby to score three second half tries. The final score was 34-22 with eight tries shared equally between the two sides.

Digicel Pacific Islanders head coach Pat Lam was typically philosophical after the game expressing pride in his hastily prepared charges:

"I'm proud of the team's effort but I'm frustrated.

“We took too much time to get up and running and let them do too much, too soon."

Lam was scathing of the first twenty minutes performance of his side:

"We gave Scotland a great start. We were not there at the beginning. We had difficulty controlling the ball and for a second successive week lost our first lineout.

“At halftime we spoke about playing super rugby. The boys did just that. But at the end of the day we can't give sides a start like that."

When asked what he felt the difference between the two sides was Lam said the line out was crucial. The match statistics emphasised this as the Islanders lost six of their own throw ins and the Scots only two:

“Overall we lost far too much lineout ball”.

However a clearly upbeat Lam was quick to praise the Scots for their attacking brand of rugby.

"I was very, very impressed with the way they are trying to play,"

"It is the right way. It is an attacking game and you can see they have a lot of confidence.

This was emphasised by Scottish coach Frank Hadden:

"I was delighted with our first half performance. It was exceptional. The Pacific islanders are genetically programmed to play rugby, however we out-played them at their own game before half-time in attack”.

Pacific Islanders second row and captain Simon Raiwalui was taken for precautionary x rays on his wrist but was cleared of any broken bones.

So still without a win in their short history the Digicel Pacific Islanders travel to Dublin where they will take on a resurgent Irish side in the last ever rugby union international to be staged at the historic Landsdowne Road.