KRISTIAN WOOLF was pleased to see his Tonga side claim their first win over England, and build on their recent growth at the start of this World Cup.
“I felt the longer the game went, the better we got,” he said after their 30-12 victory in Perth.
“We got more and more confident. What I liked the most was the way we defended; we put ourselves under pressure a couple of times, but our defence was outstanding.
“You could see how much the game meant to us, and we showed that in our effort, and it’s something that will carry us through the tournament.
“We’ve done some special things with the Tonga team, but we’re still quite new to beating tier-one nations, and England are that – they’re a very strong team. We knew they would come out and be physical, and challenge us in different ways.
“It’s a continuation of a journey that we’re on. If you look at some of the young guys and some of the guys who are a little bit more experienced now, the experience they’ve got over the last three or four years has been outstanding.
“It’s put us in a really good position. They’re getting better and better. We’ve got depth and quality, and we can go and do something with it now.”
