International Wrap #3 - Britain make a false start

Saturday marked the first Great Britain rugby league match in 11 years, 11 months and 16 days (or 4,368 days).

At one point, there was a real possibility that the 4,368 days would be extended. That was not the fault of Britain, but a potential consequence of infighting relating to the governance of the sport in Tonga.

Tonga’s coach Kristian Woolf had been removed from his post and many of the Tongan players threatened to withdraw from the team in protest. The fervent Tongan fans were even discouraged from attending.

Thankfully, after talks involving the IRL and the Prime Minister and the King of Tonga, a plaster was placed over the gaping sore, Kristian Woolf was reinstated as head coach, Tonga’s players returned, and the game was to go ahead as planned.

Somehow, you could not imagine a situation where Britain’s Prime Minister and the Queen would ever involve themselves in such affairs!

The team was unable to use the nickname “Mate Ma’a”. Not that this stopped the fans in Hamilton from adorning banners with “Mate Ma’a Tonga” on them. For official purposes, the team were to be referred as the “Tonga Invitational XIII”.

Here’s hoping that one day we can go just 12 months without a nation having a crisis which threatens the sport in their country!

The resolution of the off-field problems allowed Britain’s lengthy abeyance of the team to be broken. Although it was done in an inauspicious manner, with Britain slumping to a 14-6 defeat.

If you think of rugby league teams in the South Sea Islands, you picture giant men charging around the field in a manner lacking finesse but bursting with power. This game wasn’t too far away from that for the most part, and it was Tonga’s physicality that lay the platform.

Britain fans often think of their pack as the cornerstone of the team, but in what must be a concern, the Tongan pack got the better of them. Consequently, the more creative players such as Lachlan Coote, Gareth Widdop and Jackson Hastings were left hamstrung.

Tonga’s game wasn’t all brute force though. Their two tries came from off-the-cuff play. The first came from a midfield grubber kick which caught Britain off-guard and the second from a 13-pass move after the half time hooter had sounded.

Britain were always going to have their spell and that came in the early stages of the second half. They forced repeat sets and pinned Tonga on their own try line, but despite huffing and puffing, could not break the resistance.

Despite dominating the start of the second half, it was the Tongans who scored first in the second half, extending the lead to three scores, which Britain were never realistically going to recover from.

This was a game that Britain should have expected to have won. The fact that they did not puts them under the microscope. With Oliver Gildart ruled out of the rest of the tour with a shoulder injury, more voices will be added to the list of critics who questioned why only one specialist centre was taken, yet seven players who could cover the half back roles were.

Others will question the wisdom of not playing either a mid-season international or a warm-up match. Especially give Tom Burgess’ recent comments:

"We've got quite a few players coming in who are new to the team. We didn't have a mid-season Test so it has been 12 months since we've been together.”

But dealing with that pressure is part and parcel of playing and excelling at international sport. After an encouraging 2017 and successful 2018, Great Britain find themselves on the ropes and it will be interesting to see how they react in the next two Tests against New Zealand.

Whilst the result on Saturday was disappointing for a Britain perspective, it is positive from an international rugby league perspective.

Over the last few years Tonga have emerged as a competitive fourth nation, something that the sport has sought after for many years. They do perhaps lack depth in certain positions, as evidence by Tese Niu making his Tongan debut on Saturday before he has made a senior NRL appearance.

We hope that the Tongan exploits of the last few years can encourage more heritage players to nail their colours to the mast going forward and create a more competitive international game. Let’s hope also that the plaster placed over the gaping sore that is Tonga’s governing body holds!

In other news…

Whilst Britain played their Test against Tonga, Scotland and Ireland also faced World Cup qualifiers on Saturday.

Scotland crushed Serbia 86-0 at Lochinch Sports Complex, meanwhile Ireland beat Spain by 42-8. Whilst the Scotland game was over as a contest not long after it had begun, Ireland had to work hard for their victory against a dogged Spain side.

Both of the home nations top their respective qualifying groups and are just one victory away from Rugby League World Cup qualification in 2021.

Credit: @RLWC2021

Finally, Australia also put New Zealand to the sword on Friday in the Oceania Cup. Australia were clinical and ruthless as we have come to expect. New Zealand on the other hand were toothless, lacked organisation and had a poor kicking game.

Both they and Britain have a point to prove when they meet next Saturday at Eden Park.

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