England complete a clean sweep of the series against Tonga

England ran in four tries to beat Tonga 26-4 in the final game of a successful series.

The hosts completed a clean sweep of the test series after tries from the Warrington duo of Matty Ashton and Ben Currie were followed by Elliot Whitehead and Harry Newman.

The tie started off like a game of chess, as each side just drove the ball hard up the pitch in the hope of sussing their opponent out first. The breakthrough came in the 14^th minute after England started to open up their hands and be inventive with the ball.

A neat offload in their own half set up a break down the middle. The ball then found its way to Currie, who sidestepped his opponent and opened the scoring underneath the posts.

The offload game continued throughout the first half, just 10 minutes later John Bateman got his hands free in a tackle and popped a pass out to Newman. The Leeds centre stood up his opponent before setting up Ashton to cross untouched.

The hosts extended their lead to 14 shortly after, receiving a penalty just in front of the posts for a dangerous tackle. The half ended in bitter style, with both sides seeing a man sent for a sit down.

England’s Matty Lees and Tonga’s Keon Koloamatangi were both shown a yellow card for starting a bust up in play. Although Matty Lees appeared lucky to just been shown yellow, after he was caught pulling the hair of his opponent.

With the score reading 14-0 to the hosts, the two sides headed into the sheds for a well earned break. The first 40 minutes were fast and furious, and there was definitely some sore bodies.

However, it only took England four minutes to get back to business when the play restarted. The magic Jack Welsby sent a bullet pass out to Tom Johnstone on the wing, who raced away to link up with Currie and Whitehead, with the latter crossing the line to score a try on his final England appearance.

Tonga were desperately poor every time they approached England’s line. They either didn’t know what to do with the ball, or would come up with silly errors to turn over possession. The spurned multiple chances for points, which ultimately gave England such a commanding lead.

The tourists misery was compiled further when they once again went down to 12 men for 10 minutes. Their centre Konrad Hurrell was shown a lucky yellow card for swinging his arm and fist in the direction of an England player.

After a lengthy review by the video referee England crossed for their fourth try in the 65^th minute. It was only two minutes after they had one ruled out, and was scored by the home favourite Newman. The hosts capitalising on the man advantage.

Tonga did finish their tour in positive style. Whether they found that little bit extra or England just lost concentration, the Mate Ma’a managed to cross the line and get themselves off the mark in Leeds courtesy of Eliesa Katoa’s steamrolling run and put down.

Welsby saved a certain try on the line as the fulltime hooter sounded, drawing the series to a close. Wigan’s Harry Smith was awarded the player of the series, and it was his composed kicking game that carried the hosts over the line today, the scrum half went five from five off the tee and the award was well deserved.

England completed the clean sweep and in some fashion, 26-4 the final score on a cold night in Leeds.

 

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