Matt Parish shut down questions directed at his captain Junior Paulo after Samoa secured a blockbuster Rugby League World Cup quarter-final meeting with Tonga following a 62-4 win over France.
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Parish entered the press conference room at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium in prickly fashion, addressing the assembled media and saying: "Are you going to write the truth tonight?"
The Samoa coach failed to elaborate and bristled when Paulo was asked about how the ferocity of the clashes between the Pacific nations compared to State of Origin.
Paulo has become a mainstay of the NSW pack over the last couple of years, but Parish interjected when his prop was quizzed on the Samoa-Tonga rivalry.
"I think you are unfair comparing this to Origin, fair dinkum, very unfair," Parish said.
"Asking him that, it is (a great rivalry) but so is NSW and Queensland but asking him to comment on that, I think that's very unfair."
Paulo for his part, said: "We're proud of where we grew up. But we're also proud of our heritage, we see how much it means to the people parading around for both (countries)."
Samoa's World Cup campaign has developed strong support in the nation itself as well as among its diaspora communities in the US, New Zealand and Australia.
"I think (the quarter-final clash) will be good for international rugby league in general," Paulo said.
"Both teams are powerhouses throughout the middle and then have their spark on the edges, so it's going to be entertaining."
The hope for Samoa is that they can relegate their opening 60-6 loss to England to footnote status with a victory over Tonga.
Their campaign since the England defeat has been punctuated by emphatic bounce-back wins over Greece and the French, which led to them finish second in group A.
Samoa haven't beaten Tonga since 2016 and in that time the Kristian Woolf-led side have knocked off Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand to climb to second on the world rankings.
Only two places separate Samoa (7th) and the French (9th) but there was a clear gulf in class as Parish's outfit ran in 11 tries on Sunday in front of a crowd of 6756.
Four of them were scored by Penrith winger Taylan May, who marked his comeback from missing the NRL grand final through injury in impressive fashion.
Tim Lafai, Anthony Milford and Brian To'o all grabbed try-scoring doubles, with Chanel Harris-Tavita also crossing.
The French were hit by injuries to centre Samisoni Langi and winger Arthur Romano and that ended any hope of an upset.
Fouad Yaha grabbed their sole try of the night and it marks a second straight tournament where France have failed to get past the group stage.
"We need to be better next time when we play this type of team, especially around the ruck," said French coach Laurent Frayssinous, whose country will host the 2025 tournament.
"But I don't want to summarise our World Cup by the scoreboard we saw tonight.
"It didn't go our way but we will keep on building."
Australian Associated Press
