By KEITH McGHIE
KRISTIAN WOOLF has stressed how much the Test series has meant to Tonga while gauging how much closer England have come to Southern Hemisphere giants Australia and New Zealand after Saturday’s emphatic victories.
New Zealand savoured a 30-0 drubbing of arch rivals Australia just hours before England wrapped up the series against Woolf’s charges with a comfortable 26-4 third straight victory at Headingley.
“That was a meaningful series, whatever the outcome, between number three (England are actually number four in the IRL rankings) and number five in the world,” said Woolf.
“If I go back to some of the early years, at first the players didn’t want to play for Tonga because they didn’t trust what they were coming into. So I made sure that we gave them what they needed when they came into camp.
“All of our players are eligible for both Australia and New Zealand – they can’t play in the NRL if they are not – even the guys who were born in Tonga.
“They also need a schedule to give them something to play for.
“As long as we keep giving that, then the players will keep putting their hand up and make that sacrifice to play for Tonga, which we can all be really proud of.
“We’re disappointed with the results – disappointed to go down 3-0, but not disappointed in the way our group has come over here, prepared in every training session – it’s not been on a holiday as they’ve put that effort into every game.”
Samoa are expected to follow with a similar tour next year but Woolf is cautious, saying: “We’ve had discussions about playing England over there (Tonga) as well.
“I don’t think anyone should count that (Samoa’s visit) as a given.
“We’re only going to get better and when you’ve got players who are all young men, they’re going learn a hell of a lot from this experience.
“The easy thing for us to do would have been to stay at home and played in the Pacific Championship – we had the option.
“But we put our necks out and came over here and we knew that it would be good for us in terms of the challenge and how many young blokes that we’ve got who will learn so much from this experience.
“I think the difference between the teams in this series has been the six, seven, one – the six, seven, one for England have been exceptional.
“Jack Welsby is an outstanding player and he’s been really well complemented by Harry Smith and both Mikey Lewis and George Williams and if they keep those guys together and they keep playing the footy they have been, then they’re certainly going to compete.”
