Tonga stun England as Samoa thrash France at Rugby League World Cup

Pacific nations made a statement on the opening weekend of the Rugby League World Cup, with Tonga beating England and Samoa routing France.

Tonga beat England 30-12 in Perth on Saturday, their first win over England in seven attempts. A day earlier in Sydney, Samoa ran in 14 tries in a 78-4 win over France.

Both teams are still classed as Tier Two nations, but their squads are packed with players from Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL).

Haumole Olakau’atu scored two tries for Tonga, with highly rated halfback Isaiya Katoa also in the side.

“We’re still quite new in terms of beating Tier One nations, and England are that,” said Tonga coach Kristian Woolf. “I just thought our performance was really strong.”

England, who won three of the first six World Cups as Great Britain, now need to win their remaining two group matches and rely on other results to avoid missing the semi-finals for the first time.

“It’s great that Tonga is a really strong nation. It’s brilliant that Samoa’s a really strong nation,” said England coach Brian McDermott. “All we can do right here, right now, is just go out and put a ton of effort.”

France coach Laurent Frayssinous said his side, whose best players compete in Europe’s Super League, had been outclassed. “The NRL keeps growing and keeps getting better every year,” he said.

Samoa reached the final at the last World Cup.

Elsewhere, Fiji beat the Cook Islands 40-12 in Newcastle, and Papua New Guinea defeated Lebanon 42-18 in Port Moresby.

The tournament opened on Thursday with reigning champions Australia edging New Zealand 24-22 in Sydney. New Zealand are likely to be without fullback Kalyn Ponga for the rest of the tournament after he broke his forearm.