England-Tonga registers impressive attendance as New Zealand-Australia falls flat

ENGLAND secured a whitewash against Tonga in their three-game Test Series with a comprehensive 26-4 win over Kristian Woolf’s men on Saturday afternoon at Headingley.

Whilst England have steadily improved throughout the Series, Tonga have seemingly gone backwards but Saturday’s clash at the home of Leeds Rhinos saw the biggest attendance of the three matches – despite the Series already belonging to Shaun Wane’s side.

In fact, 15,477 flocked to Headingley to watch England – which is the biggest attendance at an England rugby league game not involving New Zealand or Australia since 1963.

Whilst that figure is mightily impressive, the same cannot be said of the Pacific Championship Final between New Zealand and Australia that took place over the weekend.

With the Kiwis running out 30-0 winners, it was the most points that Australia have conceded in a test since 1952, when New Zealand won 49-25.

However, just 13,269 people turned up at Hamilton’s FMG Stadium in Waikato, New Zealand, with the area known as a rugby union heartland.

On television, the number of empty seats is what got people talking with the capacity of 25,000 nowhere near being hit.

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