2023 England v Tonga Test Series

[The Greenhouse]

2023 Test 1: England v Tonga

England v Tonga
Sunday 22 October, 2:30pm local
Monday 23 October, 12:30am AEDT
Langtree Park, St Helens
Broadcast: Fox League, commences 12:20am

England

1. John Bateman 2. Thomas Burgess 3. Daryl Clark 4. Liam Farrell 5. Chris Hill 6. Tom Johnstone 7. Toby King 8. Morgan Knowles 9. Matty Lees 10. Mikey Lewis 11. Tommy Makinson 12. Mike McMeeken 13. Robbie Mulhern 14. Harry Newman 15. Victor Radley 16. Harry Smith 17. Danny Walker 18. Jack Welsby 19. Elliott Whitehead (alphabetical)



Tonga

1. Will Hopoate 2. Starford To'a 3. Viliami Penisini 4. Moses Suli 5. Tolutau Koula 6. Tuimoala Lolohea 7. Isaiya Katoa 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Siliva Havili 10. Moeaki Fotuaika 11. Tyson Frizell 12. Keaon Koloamatangi 13. Felise Kaufusi 14. Dion Teaupa 15. Tevita Tatola 16. Haumole Olakau'atu 17. Hame Sele 18. Eliesa Katoa 19. Konrad Hurrell

[The Greenhouse]

[The Greenhouse]

[The Greenhouse]

Welcome to our coverage of tonight's Test at Langtree Park, St Helens, between England and Tonga. This match is broadcast live on Fox League. We'll have live scores right here in this thread. Kick off is at 12:30am AEDT.

Canberra Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead will be starting in the second row for England. So we'll be on Whitehead Watch.

[The Greenhouse]

News just through that there is a 10 minute delay to kick off, due to problems with ticketing and getting the crowd into the stadium.

[The Greenhouse]

Here come the two teams, they head onto the pitch side by side. The stands are close to full. Now for the national anthems. Giant flags spread out over the ground still. Now they depart. Time for some football.

No spoke too soon. Time for the Sipi Tau, led by former Raider Siliva Havili. Emotional stuff. Now for a mini warm up and then some football.



Presently 13C at St Helens, fine conditions.

[The Greenhouse]

Will be nearly 20 minutes delay to kick off. Now we have it. Tonga gets us underway.

[The Greenhouse]

4th min Very good kick defusal from Harry Smith. England survive the first red zone attack from Tonga. It followed a lost ball from Elliott Whitehead.

[The Greenhouse]

9th min TRY ENGLAND to Toby King. Huge break up the middle from Mikey Lewis, from near halfway. Then they shift it wide to the left and there are many men over for England. Converted.

England 6-0

[The Greenhouse]

15th min TRY TONGA to winger Starford Toa in the corner. Simple shift to the right, good pass Will Hopoate. They are looking for a possible obstruction from Koloamatangi in the video referee's box, but that was a decision of the defenders. Try awarded. Katoa cannot converts from the sideline.

England 6-4

[The Greenhouse]

19th min ERROR ENGLAND from John Bateman, five metres from the line. Can't take the Radley pass, probably had already overrun it.

[The Greenhouse]

22nd min FORCED LINE DROP OUT conceded by England.

[The Greenhouse]

24th min TRY TONGA to Tyson Frizell, chasing the Lolohea kick ahead. Deft kick, given the short in goals. Katoa converts.

Tonga 10-6

[The Greenhouse]

26th min ERROR TONGA from Siliva Havili. Not really, he threw a perfectly good pass from dummy half, but the speed of the passing and running has fooled the English referee.

[The Greenhouse]

30th min PENALTY ENGLAND in the red zone, with Addin Fonua-Blake lying in the ruck.

TRY ENGLAND to Mikey Lewis, running wide. He throws a dummy or two and shows good speed. Halfback Harry Smith gives England the lead with the conversion.

England 12-10

[The Greenhouse]

35th min PENALTY TONGA for a push in the ruck from Bateman. It is very kickable and they go for the penalty goal.

PENALTY GOAL TONGA to Isaiya Katoa.

England 12
Tonga 12

[The Greenhouse]

40th min PENALTY TONGA and they will go for goal. The siren has sounded for half time before the kick from over 40 metres out is taken.

Katoa misses the goal, it is short.

England 12
Tonga 12

HALF TIME

[RedRaider]

Mikey Lewis (6) playing well for England and looks a fine footballer. Jack Welsby at full back and Captain.

[The Greenhouse]

The teams head back onto the field for the second half. England kick off, we are back underway.

[The Greenhouse]

44th min Tonga makes a break out wide, and for some reason, they kick ahead! Welsby obviously plays at it and the ball goes out. Eventually the referee gets the call right. Ball back with Tonga.

[The Greenhouse]

46th min ERROR TONGA from Koloamatangi, attempting to reach out and score. Couldn't see one on replay.

PENALTY ENGLAND for Tonga breaking early from the scrum. Both teams did, actually. Gets them out of their own end.

[The Greenhouse]

50th min Dust up after Tonga ruled to have been tackled over the sideline. The shoulder of the Tongan winger just touches the white stripe. Koloamatangi is the third man in and is penalised. Tonga just looking a bit too impatient, but more dangerous.

[The Greenhouse]

52nd min Elliott Whitehead knocks on in chasing the ball, but the referee has missed it. No bunker to tell them. And Tonga forced into a line drop out. The officiating is really poor.

[The Greenhouse]

54th min Now England given six again on the last tackle in the red zone, and even the English commentators are surprised.

TRY ENGLAND to Tom Johnstone in the corner, set up by a very long cut out pass from Jack Welsby. Welsby was almost right in the middle of the field when he launched that pass. Harry Smith is out on the sideline... cannot convert.

England 16-12

[The Greenhouse]

62nd min Elliott Whitehead chases a kick to the in goal, but the ball goes dead. Tonga struggling in the battle for territory at the moment.

[The Greenhouse]

67th min TRY ENGLAND to Tom Johnstone. There is a loose pass from Tonga and Johnstone swoops in on the ball and runs away. That could be the game, as Tonga has been struggling to make an impact for the past 15-20 minutes. Harry Smith converts from in front.

England 22-12

[The Greenhouse]

73rd min Going to the video for a no try for Tom Burgess, and the video referee confirms Burgess did not ground the ball. Held up, NO TRY.

[The Greenhouse]

78th min TRY TONGA to Koula in the corner and Katoa converts from the sideline! Grandstand finish!

England 22-18

[The Greenhouse]

Mikey Lewis has been awarded player of the match, very deservedly, but the match is certainly not over yet.

[The Greenhouse]

80th min ERROR TONGA from Moses Suli and it is now all over.

England 22
Tonga 18

FULL TIME

MATCH REPORT: England hold off dogged Pacific islanders to win Test series opener



England fought off an impressive Tonga side in St Helens to win the first match of their three-Test series. Tom Johnstone scored twice in the second period following first-half scores from Toby King and debutant Mikey Lewis.

Tonga showed they will be no pushovers as the first Pacific island nation to tour England, leading early on through Starford Toa and Tyson Frizell. Tolutau Koula added a late score for a grandstand finish, but England held on.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/67186947

[greeneyed]

Elliott Whitehead. 10 runs for 62 metres, 22 post contact, one tackle break, one offload, 35 tackles, 92 per cent tackle efficiency, one error.

All the statistics: https://www.nrl.com/draw/internationals ... maa-tonga/

[dubby]

Good to see the poms get a win

[RedRaider]

Elliott Whitehead. 10 runs for 62 metres, 22 post contact, one tackle break, one offload, 35 tackles, 92 per cent tackle efficiency, one error.

All the statistics: https://www.nrl.com/draw/internationals ... maa-tonga/

And EW played the full 80 minutes as did John Bateman.

[The Greenhouse]

2023 Test 2: England v Tonga

England v Tonga
Saturday 28 October, 2:30pm local
Sunday 29 Octobers, 1:30am AEDT
John Smith's Stadium, Huddersfield
TV: Fox League

England

1. Matty Ashton 2. John Bateman 3. Thomas Burgess 4. Daryl Clark 5. Ben Currie 6. Liam Farrell 7. Chris Hill 8. Tom Johnstone 9. Toby King 10. Matty Lees 11. Mikey Lewis 12. Mike McMeeken 13. Robbie Mulhern 14. Harry Newman 15. Victor Radley 16. Harry Smith 17. Danny Walker 18. Jack Welsby 19. Elliott Whitehead (alphabetical)

Tonga

1. Will Hopoate 2. Junior Tupou 3. Will Penisini 4. Moses Suli 5. Tolutau Koula 6. Tuimoala Lolohea 7. Isaiya Katoa 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Siliva Havili 10. Tevita Tatola 11. Tyson Frizell 12.Haumole Olakau'atu 13. Felise Kaufusi

14. Dion Teaupa 15. Moeaki Fotuaika 16. Keaon Koloamatangi 17. Eliesa Katoa

18. Hame Sele 19. Konrad Hurrell

Referee: Jack Smith
Touch judges: Chris Kendall, Richard Thompson
Video referee: Liam Moore

[greeneyed]