Thanks to tries from Leeds Rhinos centre Harry Newman, the departing Elliott Whitehead and Warrington Wolves duo Ben Currie and Matty Ashton, England secured a series whitewash over Kristian Woolf’s Tonga.
England had won the opening two tests in games that can best be described as grim. The opening test was shrouded in the controversial statements about the ruck speed as well as the condition of the pitch at St Helens. Then the second test was literally shrouded in the wet mist due to a real down pour.
Of course, conditions like this are to be expected at this time of year but England shrugged those conditions off to produce the best rugby of the tournament in the third and final test at the newly renamed AMT Headingley Stadium.
The first try summed up England’s free flowing attack on the day with a John Bateman offload allowing Harry Newman to freely run. He combined with Tom Burgess to set Harry Smith away who set up Ben Currie for the opener.
Bateman would again help create the next try as his offload coupled with a lovely flick pass from Harry Newman created a score for Matty Ashton – his third of the series. In the second half Elliott Whitehead backed up a break for a lovely moment on his final England appearance before try number four came frim Newman. This followed a lovely break down the left and a kick wide from Harry Smith.
The 15,477 fans in attendance were certainly given value for money as were the fans tuning in on BBC. According to RugbyleagueonTV.com the game average a TV audience of 695,000 viewers with a peak of 887,000 at 4pm. The audience share was at 8.7%.
This audience share is superior to the opening test but slightly less than the second test which approached the 10% marker. Interestingly though, the figures themselves were higher than both the opening tests. The first test had a peak of 642,000 which was the average recorded by the second test.
The second test peaked at 795,000 meaning the third test was the closest England got to one million viewers. A strong conclusion to free to air rugby league in the UK for 2023. It remains to be seen what kind of free to air TV deal is agreed to go alongside Sky Sports in 2024.
