IT was a game and a result to make the Rugby League world sit up and take notice.
No, nothing that has happened on these shores in the last few weeks, as England whitewashed Tonga in a largely uninspiring series.
The highlight of the post-season international window, of course, came in Hamilton, where New Zealand inflicted the heaviest-ever Test defeat on Australia, winning 30-0.
When previewing the new Pacific Championships a month ago, we noted that all the best representative action would be in the southern hemisphere, home to the world’s best three nations.
And the clash between the Kiwis and the Kangaroos – indeed, the two clashes in back-to-back weeks – only proved that to be true.
At last year’s World Cup, the outstanding game by some distance was between those two giants, in the semi-final at Elland Road, as Australia edged into the final before beating Samoa at Old Trafford.
Neither of their more recent encounters quite matched that level, if only because Australia were dominant one week, and then New Zealand even more so the next.
In the context of the tournament, the Kiwis produced when it mattered, in the final. Their display was one of the finest in the international arena in recent times, utterly dominating the world champions.
Their forwards were immense, making huge metres, led by the exceptional Joseph Tapine and new captain James Fisher-Harris.
At halfback, Dylan Brown and Jahrome Hughes have a great partnership and both were superb against the Kangaroos, as was Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad at fullback.
Also promising is the young talent coming through. Cronulla’s Ronaldo Mulitalo was outstanding on the wing, in attack and defence, while inside him, centre Matthew Timoko of Canberra has enjoyed a fine first international campaign.
But perhaps the most encouraging takeaway for the Kiwis is the depth now available to coach Michael Maguire. They hammered the Aussies without Shaun Johnson and Brandon Smith, and remarkably only fielded one player from the Warriors team that excelled in the NRL last year, finishing fourth.
In contrast to the physically-dominant Kiwis, Australia were bullied and beaten and look in need of some new blood themselves. Some fans have called for that to apply in the coaching box too, and while no rash decisions should be made over the future of double World Cup-winning boss Mal Meninga, he certainly has questions to ponder after such a shocking performance.
A lot of the errors were individual ones, especially a huge count of missed tackles. For the nation with by far the richest pool of talent to pick from, far better is expected from any Kangaroo display.
Are the Kiwis now the world’s best team? It certainly looks tight between the top two, even if the most recent meeting was anything but.
That thrashing wasn’t without precedent, mind. The last time Australia were nilled, in 2005, it was a 24-0 defeat to the same opposition in the Tri-Nations final in Leeds.
Three years later, the Kiwis were World Cup champions. Could history repeat itself when the next World Cup takes place in 2026, especially with a good chance that most or all of it will take place in New Zealand?
Meanwhile, Samoa were a mere footnote in the Pacific Cup. A year on from reaching the World Cup final, they were beaten 38-12 by Australia and then 50-0 by New Zealand.
With a new coach in Ben Gardiner, and nine debutants in their opening game, they have moved on quickly and struggled to keep pace with two class outfits.
The same question will be asked of Samoa as of Tonga – can they maintain their new-found place at the top table of international Rugby League?
On their tour of England, the Tongans looked a shadow of the side which almost reached the World Cup Final in 2017 and beat both Australia and Great Britain two years later.
Missing the likes of Jason Taumalolo, Daniel Tupou and Siosiua Taukeiaho, with inadequate replacements, they struggled to make an impact on a well-drilled England side which defended strongly but were not tested nearly enough.
Both of those Pacific nations have work to do if they are to be able to field such strong squads again. Perhaps with that in mind, Samoa have turned down England’s invite for their own Test series in the northern hemisphere in 2024, when they are likely to face more Pacific opposition instead.
It’s an understandable decision in one respect – that is where the international game is thriving. There is even another rising power in the region now, after Papua New Guinea’s triumph over Fiji in the Pacific Bowl, led by Edwin Ipape and masterminded by new coach Justin Holbrook, which suggested they are another country to watch, especially if they get an NRL team in the near future.
So where do England sit in all this? They should return to the top three in the world rankings, their ‘tier one’ label justifiable again, after their series whitewash. But how they stack up against Australia and New Zealand is difficult to gauge with certainty when, astonishingly, they have faced neither since Shaun Wane’s tenure began at the start of 2020, and will not do so until an Ashes tour at the end of 2025.
They beat Tonga convincingly enough and, in the third Test, even did so with a bit of style, and will also have taken plenty of encouragement from the performances of young players such as Harry Smith, Mikey Lewis and Harry Newman.
Absent men such as Dom Young and Herbie Farnworth will make them stronger, although the general lack of such players who are regular stars in the NRL – only two Australia-based players featured in that final game, one of whom was retiring – is a concern, their players exposed to far fewer high-intensity games in Super League.
A Samoa series falling through is a disappointment, but one which must be turned to their advantage instead. There is only one move for the RFL to now make – to get England into the Pacific Championships next year.
They will lose a home series and gain the cost of a tour Down Under, but if they are at all serious about using the international game to grow the sport’s profile in this country, and want to give England any chance of competing at the next World Cup, that is where they need to be playing.
Otherwise, England risk being cut adrift of what is a flourishing international scene.
