By STEVE MASCORD
AN under-publicised scoring system employed at the World Cup means England are almost certainly not going to progress beyond the group stages.
Brian McDermott’s side crashed 30-12 at Tonga amid uproarious scenes in the red-daubed stands at HBF Stadium in Perth tonight.
If the rest of the matches in pools B and C go according to form and Tonga also lose to Samoa on November 1, England and Tonga would end on equal points.
But England cannot try to outstrip Tonga in terms of points scored in their remaining group matches against France and Papua New Guinea – because Tonga would go through regardless under the competition’s head to head rule.
If you are level on points with a team you already defeated in the tournament, they are automatically ranked below you.
Tonga led 10-0 at the end of a sometimes brilliant first half full of skill and rugby league brinkmanship.
The tea, formerly known as Mate Ma’a lost five-eighth Latu Fainu to a pectoral muscle injury after 17 minutes. Tui Lolohea came into the contest.
At that time England were the better team according to most indices.
That all changed when man of the match Isaiya Katoa’s sublime pass sent Stefano Utoikamanu hurtling towards the tryline in the 23th minute.
The huge Tongan contingent erupted and the team fed off it, momentum shifting their way.
The Dolphins’ Katoa converted the try and added penalty goals in the 27th and 39th minutes.
In the second half, Katoa found AJ Brimson out of position with little kicks in two occasions, with Haumole Olakau’atu benefiting in the 52nd and 70th minutes,
In between that was a Tolutau Koula touchdown for Tonga and a well-taken score by Brimson off Hugo Savala’s break in the 45th.
Dom Young’s 62nd minute touchdown briefly narrowed the margin to 12 with centre Savala’s sideline conversion.
TONGA 30 (Olakau’atu 2 Utoikamanu Koula tries Katoa 7 goals) beat ENGLAND 12 (Brimson Young tries Savala 2 goals) at HBF Park. Crowd: 18,203.
Teams:
ENGLAND: AJ Brimson (Gold Coast); Dominic Young (Newcastle), Hugo Savala (Sydney Roosters), Herbie Farnworth (Dolphins), Zach Eckersley (Wigan); George Williams (capt, Warrington), Harry Smith (Wigan); Max King (Canterbury), Brad O’Neill (Wigan), Luke Thompson (Wigan), Junior Nsemba (Wigan), Kai Pearce-Paul (Wests Tigers), Victor Radley (Sydney Roosters).
Reserves: Jez Litten (Hull KR), Ethan Havard (Wigan), Sam Walters (Wigan), Jack Welsby (St Helens), Matty Ashton (Warrington), Ben Currie (Warrington).
TONGA: Lehi Hopoate (Manly); Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Warriors), Tolutau Koula (Manly), Robert Toia (Sydney Roosters), Jojo Fifita (Gold Coast); Latu Fainu (Wests Tigers), Isaiya Katoa (Dolphins); Addin Fonua-Blake (Cronulla), Salesi Foketi (Sydney Roosters), Jason Taumalolo (capt, North Queensland), Haumole Olakau’atu (Manly), Siua Wong (Sydney Roosters), Tyson Frizell (Newcastle).
Reserves: Soni Luke (North Queensland), Stefano Utoikamanu (Melbourne), Demitric Vaimauga (Warriors), Leka Halasima (Warriors), Tuimoala Lolohea (Huddersfield), Paul Alamoti (Penrith).
Referee: Gerard Sutton
