Record breaker Kingi sets sights on Tonga

(IRB.COM) Sunday 7 June 2009









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Richard Kingi scored the first two of Australia's tries against Canada - Photo: Aki Naoga (RJP)



Richard Kingi may have written himself into the history books on more than one front with his four-try, 26-point haul in Australia’s opening IRB TOSHIBA Junior World Championship 2009 victory over Canada, but the scrum half insists he has already “forgotten” about Friday’s match.

The 20-year-old is instead focused on Australia’s next Pool D match with Tonga at the Best Amenity Stadium in Saga on Tuesday, fully aware that the Pacific islanders will be a more physical side and bigger threat to their title aspirations than Canada on day one.

However, for the record, Kingi surpassed the previous benchmark for the most points in a single Junior World Championship match – set by South Africa’s Sias Ebersohn in their 108-14 defeat of USA on day one in 2008 – with his four tries and three conversions against Canada.

WATCH KINGI'S TRIES AMONG THE TRY HIGHLIGHTS OF AUSTRALIA V CANADA >>

Kingi’s four tries in the 86-10 victory – Australia’s first two inside 12 minutes and then two in the second half – was matched by full back Kurtley Beale and they join teammate Dane Haylett-Petty as the only players to achieve that mark after his haul, ironically also against Canada last year.

“To be honest I have kind of forgotten about it [the Canada match], we are looking forward with the Tonga game and looking at Wales, so I don’t think about it,” revealed Kingi, who made his Super 14 debut off the bench for the Queensland Reds against the Crusaders last month.

“That was a good game but against a good side that may not happen. I don’t really look back at it … [but] I was pretty happy, very happy of course.”

Sevens experiences invaluable
It is the first time that Kingi has scored four tries in a single match in the 15-a-side game, although the scrum half, who helped was part of Australia’s squad that finished fifth in last year’s Championship, admits he has done so on the Sevens stage.

Kingi made his debut on the IRB Sevens World Series this season, playing in his first tournament in Dubai last November and being a regular member of Michael O’Connor’s squad until having to miss the final two legs in London and Edinburgh to prepare with the Under 20 for Japan.

Had he not missed the last two legs then it is likely that Kingi would have ended his debut Series as the top point scorer in 2008/09, his 205 point tally – including 15 tries – being overtaken by England’s Ben Gollings in the final leg last month.

Kingi admits that his experiences of travelling around the world on the IRB Sevens circuit have been beneficial, particularly when it comes to playing in a tournament like the IRB TOSHIBA Junior World Championship 2009 in Japan.

“Just travelling around the world, you need to get used to that and settling in, learning information like that is a lot to do with it and preparation,” explained Kingi, when asked how his Sevens’ adventure had helped his development and preparations for Japan.

“Being in the Australian Sevens, with it being a national side, you have to be professional about everything and preparation is one of the biggest things we work on before the game, so it has really helped. As soon as I knew that Sevens could be a stepping stone for me, I put my head down and gave it a good crack.”



Best is yet to come

For now though Sevens is consigned to the back of his memory, his sole focus being Australia’s match with Tonga on Tuesday, one they must win to remain on track to finish top of Pool D and secure a move to Tokyo to contest the semi finals.

Australia may have run in 14 tries against Canada on day one, but Kingi echoed David Nucifora’s, the Under 20s head coach admitting it was a “reasonable start”, that “they had probably played better” and there was “still plenty to work on”. Not good news, potentially, for Tonga and Wales.

“We are very happy and very excited. We haven’t really been tested with the games we have played, so going into the Tonga match we are more excited than anything else,” explained Kingi. “I think it will be a lot more physical [against Tonga], but we have got ways to work around that where we want to be physical as well.

“It was pretty much of a trial of what we can do and the first 20 minutes [against Canada] was very tricky, but we worked it out and like David said we have a lot to offer and a lot to show. We can definitely win [the title], we wouldn’t be here otherwise. We wouldn’t be here if we couldn’t be the side to take it out.”


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