England and Tonga begin their battle in St. Helens

England host Tonga on home soil for the first time since 2006 as the tri-series kickstarts in St. Helens.

Shaun Wayne’s England side are looking to get back on track after a disappointing exit from last year’s World Cup, whilst Cristian Wolf’s Tonga are searching for their first ever win against the Lions (England).

The Mate Ma’a (Tonga) did spoil the British party four years ago when Great Britain travelled to New Zealand for their tour of the pacific. However, in their three previous meetings with England they have failed to register a victory.

The two sides last met at the 2017 World Cup. It was an extremely tight contest that England edged controversially by two points, after a tough video referee call.

The two prior meetings were back in 2006, when Tonga were a relatively small name in the rugby league world having only started playing internationally in 1986.

England are currently ranked fourth in the world after being overtaken by Samoa, the side that dumped them out of their home World Cup in the semi-finals. The Lions had high hopes for the competition, but they never came to fruition.

Since then, Wayne’s side has played just the one match where they dominated France 64-0 in a mid-season friendly.

Nevertheless, the Mate Ma’a haven’t played once this year, so their form is unknown. They also had a very disappointing world cup, and are now ranked fifth, just the one place behind England.

The first game of a tri-series is often the most important, if you fail to win then you face a mountain in the following games.

Both sides will be positive they can get off to the perfect start, with the squads filled with talent from the NRL and Super League. England are on home soil, but Wolf is back at his old hunting ground in St. Helens.

Let’s take a look at the two squads.

England

Tonga

England will be without their captain George Williams for the first two games as the half is seeing out a suspension. There’s first-time call-ups for Leigh’s Robbie Mulhern and Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis, and there’s five NRL stars in their too.

Tonga have 19 players from the NRL, most noticeably their star prop Keaon Kolomatangi, who provides brute force through the middle, and their flying winger Daniel Tupou, who will cause a serious threat to England. They are however without their captain Jason Taumalolo.

The series is set up to be a classic and it truly hangs in the balance.

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