How will that finish affect England ahead of next Saturday night’s final against Australia? Had that game finished at the 72nd minute England would have been full of vim and vigour and confidence, daring to believe they could put together another performance like it and scare the Aussies. But will they still feel like that now?
Tonga, thanks for everything. They have been the story of this tournament. Yes, they benefitted from some late player defections, but there were no rules broken. They played with heart, with power, with skill and they were the pride of their small nation. The crowd’s singing during today’s semi, even when Tonga were down 20-0, will stay with me for some time.
Thanks for joining me. See you next week.
Sika Manu: “It was a tough loss to take. The boys have played really well this tournament. [That comeback] Throughout the whole tournament we’ve played for the whole 80 minutes and we showed that again today.”
“I hope England go well [in the final against Australia]. They’ve been good the whole tournament and they showed their class tonight.”
No moaning or whinging from Manu that his team may have been gipped there at the end, which is classy considering there was a World Cup final on the line.
Gareth Widdop, man of the match: “It’s a great feeling [first time in World Cup final in 22 years]. It’s been a long time waiting. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever played in. They were passionate and kept fighting to the end.”
That finish?
“They fight to the end, that’s what they’re about. They deserve a lot of credit. We scrambled really well and we need to bring that to next week’s game.”
There will be a lengthy autopsy of this amazing game in the days to come.
The bottom line is that England are through to the final to play Australia. For the first 72 minutes they were just too good - more clinical in attack, impenetrable in defence. It was 20-0 folks. Tonga gave it everything with the crowd behind them but they were always second best.
But then, a dummy half try to Pangai Junior in the 73rd. Then, in the 76th minute, Havili with a smart 20m scoot to score between tired defence. Then with two minutes left, Taumalolo did his runaway train impression to put Lolohea under the posts.
And then, what with this already becoming ridiculous, McGillvary intercepted a promising Tongan move. That seemingly was that, but he was stripped almost immediately and Tonga were back on the attack.
Finally, one second - literally - before the siren, Fifita crashed over, thinking he’d won the game.
I’ve never seen a game like it.
Why didn’t the ref go upstairs to check that last play?! The video ref may still have ruled in England’s favour but why didn’t he get a chance to adjudicate?
That finish! We’ll hear a lot more about it. One, because the ref did not go to the video ref, which is incredible considering the situation. Two, because Fifita scored what many will say was a legitimate try. In which case Tonga should have won in the final second!
After he ran over Brown, Fifita burst by Whitehead who reached out and knocked the ball from Fifita’s grasp. Fifita had every right to pick the ball up again. Which he did, before he rolled with it over the line.
Full-time: Tonga 18-20 England
What an incredible finish! I’ve used more exclamation marks in the past few minutes than the rest of my writing life combined. The Tonga players are in tears, devastated. The crowd are in full song, waving Tongan flags. England have escaped having come so close to chucking it away at the death. Had they lost that it would have haunted them for life.
80 min: Tonga attack, attack, attack! With 10 seconds remaining it goes from the right wing to the left. Fifita runs over a defender, Brown, 10m out, and the ball comes lose. He picks it up again and crashes over! He’s claiming the try but the ref has blown for fulltime!
79 min: Widdop took his time over that restart and who could blame him? The crowd are beside themselves I hardly need to tell you. What a game!
Tonga tackled on the half on the fourth. They go wide right on the last then wide left. But McGillvary intercepts a ball bound for an unmarked Tupou!
But then McGillvary is stripped of the ball, fairly! Tonga back on the attack!
TRY! Tonga 18-20 England (Lolohea 77 min)
OMG! From the kickoff, Tonga work it to their own 40m before Taumalolo pushes off two tacklers, runs 20m then slips a ball inside to Lolohea who scores under the posts! There are still two minutes left!
TRY! Tonga 12-20 England (Havili 76 min)
Twenty metres out, from dummy half, Havili scoots between two tired tacklers, steps inside Widdop and scores! Taukeiaho converts.
75 min: England look to hit back immediately, and they probe down their right edge. Whitehead is held up! From the play the ball Gale kicks to his left edge but the ball hits the deck and it pin balls around between boots and arms before Tonga pick it up. Play on says the ref.
TRY! Tonga 6-20 England (Pangai Junior 73 min)
Tonga push forward again, and what’s this, Tevita Pangai Junior may have burrowed over! We’ve gone upstairs! Pangai came down short of the line but the ball ended up on the line. Did he lose and regather? Was it a double movement? Did his momentum carry him over? I was leaning towards a double movement but it’s been given.
The crowd are in full voice now.
72 min: Tonga are desperate now, offloading at will. Fusitua receives a ball over the top on the right flank but he’s closed down immediately.
The tackle count at the moment is 341-261. That’s a heap of extra work by Tonga and a reflection of England’s superior completion rates: 81%-66%.
The crowd have burst into song again. Bloody hell, it sends shivers down the spine.
70 min: Tonga are throwing it about in the hope of getting through the white jerseys of England. The crowd, rather than being subdued by the score, seem just as excited as they were in the opening minute. Ah. Tonga cough it up.
69 min: That was clinical by England, very ‘Australia-like’ if I may say so. Widdop has performed well as fullback this tournament but he’s been especially effective today.
TRY! Tonga 0-20 England (Bateman 67 min)
And that surely is the game! From midfield, after a great Tom Burgess drop-out return, England run a set play to the left. It ends with Widdop holding up the pass just long enough to commit Hurrell before Widdop continues the play with a ball to Bateman who steps back inside to score.
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65 min: Gale grubbers into the Tonga in-goal, getting the weight of the kick just right. Hopoate tries to run it out but is swamped. Drop out.
64 min: Tonga work it left before Jennings is put into a hole. He bursts forward as if fired from a canon. With Widdop approaching Jennings steps inside dragging defenders with him. That opens space for Tupou should Jennings’ slingshot of a pass out wide land in his arms. It doesn’t, however, sailing over the touchline. Again the last pass goes astray for Tonga.
62 min: Tonga on the attack again but they’ve made an error caused by their desperation to get back into this game. Widdop rises to take a bomb with Jennings bearing down on him. Jennings tackles Widdop and drives him into his own in-goal but the Tongan centre was rightly deemed to have tackled Widdop in the air. It wasn’t dangerous. He should have waited a fraction of a second for Widdop to land. Easy to say from here, of course.
59 min: What defence from England! Taumalolo, then Fifita, then Ma’u all stopped in their tracks on the goal line! On the last Tonga kick wide and Fusitua rises high over Hall for a potentially spectacular take but it slips through his arms and into touch!
58 min: I feel Tonga deserve something out of this game, and a try to them soon would lift this game to another level. But England have been disciplined and tough. They will not be letting Tonga in for the good of the game. Tonga will have to earn everything they get.
55 min: An England knock on on the halfway line gives Tonga the ball. As they win the scrum the crowd swells into song and their voices soar across the ground and even shut up the commentators for a moment. It’s quite incredible. It sounds like a choir, and a good one at that. I half checked to see if there was a radio in my office that had suddenly been switched on.
Oh, dangnabbit. Murdoch-Masila loses his grip on the ball as he gets up to play it just metres out from the England line!
53 min: England make little headway then run it on the last but Manu Ma’u wraps up Whitehead like clingfilm. Good defence by Tonga.
52 min: England keep the pressure on. Gale bombs and Fusitua knocks it on under pressure from Ryan Hall. England with a full set 10m out.
Penalty! Tonga 0-14 England (Widdop 49 min)
Widdop lands it. Tonga will need to match their comeback against Lebanon last week when they were down 16-2 at the break.
48 min: Penalty to England 30m out. England are applying the pressure here. Tonga have missed five tackles in the last five minutes. Perhaps surprisingly, England will take the chance to add an extra two. Widdop is 30m out, just left of centre.
45 min: As Tonga work it out from their own end, a few stats. Kick metres have been dominated by England, 321-189. Missed tackles (at the half) are 20-each with offloads in Tonga’s favour by 19-5.
Completion rates? England 20 of 25 (80%), Tonga 15 of 22 (68%)
43 min: Back to back penalties to Tonga has them pounding England’s line, Havili bending the line before it springs back to keep him out.
Tonga then go left and it’s lovely, through the hands to Hopoate who steps inside momentarily before looping a long pass to an unmarked Tupou. Catch it and he’ll dive over in the corner! But he spills it! Oh dear, that’ll haunt him and perhaps Tonga.
Peeeeep!
41 min: Here we go, folks. Another 40m to decide the second World Cup finalist.
A quick check on the Ashes where Australia have been bowled out for 328, a lead of 26 runs. Smith was 141 not out. England will face 20 overs before stumps:
As I duck off for a cuppa, a brief summary of that first half: England started the better of the two teams and they combined brick wall defence with a clinical edge in attack, making the most of their opportunities to post two tries. Tonga haven’t had a lot of luck with the 50/50 calls but they’ve come to play; some big hits and gritty defence late in the half when it seemed England might put a gap in them. Tonga have attacked with flair at times but perhaps they could be more patient with the ball. Too often they’ve pushed the pass only for it to go to ground.
Half-time: Tonga 0-12 England
And that’s the end of a pulsating first half.
39 min: Tupou chimes in on the left, deep in England’s half, banking like a fighter jet. He offloads to Jennings who is tackled. From the play the ball Tonga fling it wide right until Lolohea steps back inside and kicks in behind for himself – but a white wall closes in front of him and Widdop cleans up.
38 min: From the fresh set of six Burgess puts it down again! It was a terrible pass at his boots and he had a Tongan defender up in his grille. A let off for Tonga who have defended gamely here these past few minutes.
37 min: Another set play from England, Roby inside to Gale who puts a flying Sam Burgess into half a hole 5m out... but Burgess drops it! It’s been called a knock-on by Tonga, and so it is! There was a tiny touch by a Tongan player just before Burgess put the ball down.
35 min: Pangai Junior offloads in traffic on his own 30m and gives it straight to Sam Burgess. Crazy stuff. Moments later Widdop loses control of the ball but as it falls to the deck he kicks ahead and Hopoate knocks on a metre out from his own line. Tonga could be in trouble here.
33 min: Tonga give away a cheap penalty on the half, Sam Burgess having his boot grabbed as he got up to play the ball. Another great position for England but England negate the opportunity when Tom Burgess can’t take an inside ball from Graham.
31 min: O’Loughlin drags a few defenders in with a short charge so England spin it left. Through the hands it goes to Bateman who, before he has the chance to pass on to his unmarked winger, is monstered by Tupou in a head-on tackle. Bateman loses the ball as he hits the deck and Tupou is swamped by his teammates, slamming him on the back for his fine tackle.
30 min: A penalty to England on the halfway line has them surging forward.
29 min: Deep in England territory Fifita receives the ball on the fringe of the ruck and he carries three players to within a metre of the line. Just as it seems he’ll reach out to score we discover he no longer has the ball. That really looked like a strip but the ref rules a turnover.
Updated
27 min: England are taking everything Tonga throw at them and giving it back with interest. They’ve measured up in defence and scrambled desperately when needed.
Tupou runs the ball back with menace and almost busts them. Jennings then finds a sliver of space before England are penalised for holding on too long. A canny penalty to give away.
24 min: Tonga drop it early in the tackle count wasting a good opportunity. They then attempt to win it back straightaway by aiming in on England’s forwards like missiles. A big shot by Sio Siua is followed by a massive collision between Tom Burgess and Havili that sends pigeons flying off rooftops in downtown Auckland. Burgess comes off the better of the two.
23 min: Two bone-rattling hits by Tom Burgess but on the second occasion England are offside. Penalty to Tonga 20m out from England’s line.
Some bad news for England. Hodgson has injured his knee in tackling Hurrell. He’s leaving the field for James Roby and it doesn’t appear he’ll be back on.
22 min: Ryan Hall easily takes a Tonga bomb.
Completion rates so far, backing up my earlier comment: Tonga 78, England 92.
20 min: Attacking Tonga’s right edge Gale puts a pass out in front of Widdop who puts it down. Is that England’s first error? I think so.
18 min: England have made the most of their chances so far. Tonga cannot afford to fall off any more tackles.
TRY! Tonga 0-12 England (Widdop 16m)
Wouldn’t you know it? Moments after that no-try England pour down the other end, largely thanks to Hodgson who makes a fine run down centrefield. He cops a knock in the tackle and is treated, but from the restart of play England offload beautifully before Whitehead puts Widdop in a gap 10m out. He’s pulled down by Hopoate but Widdop rolls out of the tackle and, from his knees, dives over the line.
We go upstairs. Did his ball-carrying arm touch the ground? Yes, but Hopoate had, by that time, lost his grip on Widdop. So it’s a try! A cruel few minutes for Tonga but England have been clinical.
14 min: Huge moment! Lolohea makes a break inside his own half, finds Hurrell on his right. He then passes outside to Tupou. As Widdop comes across Tupou passes back inside to Hurrell who, when seeing the cover approaching, passes in turn to Jennings. He is hauled down a metre out but he passes off the ground before his momentum stops and a Tongan teammate crashes over... but before that happened the ref had blown the whistle for an England penalty! Jennings’ ball-carrying arm was adjudged to have touched the ground before he passed.
Looks a fair call but it was damn close.
12 min: Tonga are under some pressure now, England doing a good job of pinning them down into their own half.
TRY! Tonga 0-6 England (McGillvary 10m)
McGillvary gets another try, and this was too easy!
From centre-field England run a set play and it goes right through the hands until Widdop sees Tupou and Jennings aim in on him. He then fires a ball wide to McGillvary who has no-one in front of him. That was a bad read by Tupou. Widdop converts from wide on the right with some help from the left upright.
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10 min: Widdop busts them, running onto a lovely ball by Graham. He only has Hopoate to beat and he tries a goosestep but Hopoate has him for pace (my mum would have Widdop for pace), so Widdop props and comes back inside.
A play later England kick for the corner and only a nice catch over his head by Fusitua keeps England out. Fusitua just touches the chalk on the left touchline so it will be an England scrum.
9 min: Fifita drags in three defenders before chucking it out the back. Tonga probe down the right wing with Tupou but he’s collared.
8 min: A strong charge from Hill in midfield gives Hodgson an opportunity for an early kick and a 40/20 attempt but he can’t pull it off.
6 min: The crowd haven’t let up, roaring with every Tonga play. Widdop takes a bomb under pressure on his own 10m line.
4 min: On the last, 20m from the Tonga line, England put up a bomb that’s nowhere deep enough. But as it drops wide near the Tonga 20m line McGillvary comes from nowhere to leap and claim the ball and in a flash he flicks the ball out the back where, if Whitehead had caught the ball (and it was just behind him), he would have been hard to stop.
2 min: England negotiate their first set without error and Gale kicks long where Hopoate catches safely. Later in the set Tonga are penalised when Tupou shoves an English player out of the way after Hingano put up a bomb. The ball was nowhere near Tupou, but then again it wasn’t much of a shove either. The kind of shove ones performs when closing a car door.
Peeeeeep!
1 min: The semi is underway, Tonga kicking deep to Luke Gale who allows Graham the dubious honour of running into the powerful Tonga pack.
Tonga are performing their traditional pre-game war cry. Don’t mean to harp, but the crowd are going berserk. It sounds like a crowd scene from a Beatles concert in the ’60s. Fantastic!
The war cry is a frightening sight but good ol’ James Graham is staring the Tongans down with that inscrutable, white cliffs of Dover face of his.
God Save the Queen gets a rousing reception from the crowd, not minding for the moment that there must be a better choice. Wonderwall?
Now it’s Tonga’s turn - and it has the crowd roaring in delight!
To give you the gist, here’s Tonga’s national anthem as performed a few weeks ago against Scotland. The Tongan players were leaking with passion.
Today’s game will be something else, and you can’t take for granted how big an occasion this is for the tiny Pacific nation which has a population of just 107,000. Word is that Tonga’s King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u are in attendance.
Scenes from Mt Smart Stadium underline that this is effectively a Tongan home game. The atmosphere looks incredible. Actually, can you see atmosphere? Or must it be heard. Either way, or neither way, you could (look out...) cut it with a knife.
The Tongan players in the sheds have come into a tight huddle, crowding around the raised arm and fist of the player in the middle.
England slap each other’s backs and get themselves primed, as both teams now make their way onto the ground.
Pro Tongan crowd today #TONvENG @RLWC2017 #RLWC2017 pic.twitter.com/FW4ebmuruH
— Mick Hussey (@mhussey100no) November 25, 2017
As if England fans need any reminding, this will be their nation’s fourth consecutive World Cup semi-final – but not since 1995 have they actually won one to advance to the final. That was against Wales at Old Trafford where England won 25-10 and pushed Australia all the way in the final at Wembley, losing 16-8. A handy team they had back then too, what with the likes of Jason Robinson, Martin Offiah, Gary Connolly, Denis Betts and Andy Farrell.
In the intervening World Cups England have faced – and been defeated by – New Zealand each time in the semis, but thanks to Tonga’s stunning upset defeat of the Kiwis a fortnight ago that scenario couldn’t play out this time. No doubt England and their fans will be happy not having to face old ghosts today.
It’s early in the UK, of course, but I wonder how many are tuning in right now? Drop me a line if you like: paul.connolly@theguardian.com or tweet me @PFConnolly. That, of course, applies to everyone, not just sleep-addled Englanders.
Quick fact: These two teams have never met in a full international so there’s no history to fall back in using fairly meaningless stats in order to predict a winner. That said, no Pacific Island nation has ever made it to a World Cup final so a chance to create history may well drive the men in red today.
Tonga will kick-off this #RLWC2017 semi-final.#ENGvTON pic.twitter.com/AkjYo6ukHV
— England Rugby League (@England_RL) November 25, 2017
Teams
Your semi-final #TONvENG team list!#RLWC2017 pic.twitter.com/Diqiz8ovTc
— RLWC2017 (@RLWC2017) November 25, 2017
England are unchanged from the team that defeated PNG last week. For Tonga, Sio Siua Taukeiaho returns from injury.
Look for another big game from England’s Jermaine McGillvary. The winger has scored tries in each of his past nine games and he’s formed a formidable partnership with his centre, Kallum Watkins. They’ll be up against fliers Michael Jennings and Daniel Tupou, former Roosters teammates. Should be a cracking contest.
Preamble
Welcome one and all to this live blog of Tonga v England in the second of the Rugby League World Cup semi-finals. Last night in Brisbane, in the first semi-final, Australia steamrolled Fiji 54-6, with Kangaroos winger Valentine Holmes bagging himself an astonishing six tries. Over the next two hours in Auckland, Tonga and England will compete for the right to face the Aussies in next Saturday night’s final in Brisbane. Given how well Australia have been playing in this tournament that seems about as fair as rewarding the winner of a cock fight with a bout against a crocodile but the Tongan or English players will face that hurdle when they get to it.
While Tonga will enjoy the majority of the support at a sold-out Mt Smart Stadium today (and check this out!) …
Incredible scenes and kick-off is still 45mins away #SeaOfRed #MateMaaTonga #RLWC2017 #TONvENG pic.twitter.com/N65epfihor
— David Skipwith (@dskipwithNZH) November 25, 2017
… England will go into the match as favourites – and I’d say they’d have the best chance of upsetting Australia next week. Tonga, however, should not be underestimated. The Pacific Islanders have got this far without losing a game, a run of wins that included their thrilling 28-22 upset against New Zealand in Hamilton, a win that ensured they’d avoid facing Australia until the final.
Though blessed with size, speed, exotic vowel arrangements, and an array of former Kangaroos and Kiwi representatives like Jason Taumalolo, Andrew Fifita, Manu Ma’u and Sio Siua Taukeiaho, the Tongans most impressive characteristic to date has been their discipline and handling, with the team completing more than 80 per cent of their sets over their past three games. Tonga just got over the line against Lebanon last weekend, of course, but that could have been down to the effects of their emotionally draining win against the Kiwis the weekend prior. Kristian Woolf’s team should be primed for this one.
England, meantime, played their best match of the tournament in the opener against Australia. Since then, though they’ve won three from three, they’ve had some difficulty controlling their games, something that would give their coach Wayne Bennett a real case of the squints. Against Papua New Guinea last week, for example, England’s completion rate was just 57%. It says something about the talent at their disposal that they won easily enough but if they want to win today and give themselves a chance next week they’ll need to be less profligate when in possession. It’s time for England to step up.
Really looking forward to this one, it could be a belter.
Kick-off: 6pm local, 4pm AEDT, 5am GMT.
Paul will be here shortly. In the meantime, have a read about how Australia booked their place in next weekend’s final.
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