A Haumole Olakau'atu double has inspired Tonga to a historic victory over England in a major World Cup warning to the game's traditional powers.
The win is the Pacific nation's first over England in their history and helps avenge a two-point loss in the 2017 IRL Rugby League World Cup semi-final.
The triumph was built on a defensive foundation, with Kristian Woolf's men repelling multiple waves of England attack before scoring twice in three minutes to turn a 10-6 lead into a 22-6 advantage midway through the second half.
England fought back through Dom Young before Haumole Olakau'atu's second try with 10 minutes to play put the game to bed and secured a hard-fought 30-12 victory.
The result puts Tonga in pole position to progress to the semi-final and proves they are a genuine World Cup contender.
With head-to-head result the primary tiebreaker, England must defeat France and Papua New Guinea and hope Tonga beats Samoa when the two Pacific nations face off at a sold-out CommBank Stadium in the final game of the group stage on November 1.
Saturday's clash in front of 18,302 vocal fans at HBF Park was a high-quality affair, with both teams throwing plenty at their opponents.
In other games, the PNG Kumuls have launched their 2026 World Cup campaign in grand style with a 42-18 victory over Lebanon in Port Moresby.
In front of a passionate home crowd at Santos National Football Stadium, the Kumuls opened the scoring in the eighth minute when five-eighth Gairo Voro pounced on a Cedars error and sprinted 60 metres to touch down.
A sweeping move to the right edge in the 19th minute led to the Kumuls' second try through Jason Saab before Voro turned provider in the 30th minute with a clean line break and a well-timed pass back inside for Nixon Putt to score.
With half-time looming the Cedars hit back with two tries in four minutes, the first through Abbas Miski with a dummy-half snipe on the back of a powerful charge from Tupou Francis and the second from Tony Sukkar after a Tony Francis intercept.
Leading 18-12 at the break the Kumuls exploded out of the blocks after half-time with Finley Glare picking up a loose pass and surging through the defence on the right edge.
Come the 48th minute and forwards Jack de Belin and Epel Kapinias combined superbly with the veteran Eels lock sending his prop over with a deft short ball. Rhyse Martin's fifth conversion of the day made it 30-12.
A second try to Miski in the 54th minute pulled Lebanon back within 12 before both sides had chances to score with Tony Francis creating opportunities for the Cedars with some explosive runs.
Francis finished the day with a whopping 292 run metres and seven tackle breaks while Jacob Kiraz ran for 207 metres.
Despite their bravery in defence for much of the second half, the Cedars finally cracked with eight minutes to go when Edwin Ipape put Martin over with a classy short ball from close range.
Ipape came up with another try assist three minutes later when he nudged a grubber into the in-goal for Bailey Biondi-Odo to follow through and beat Khaled Rajab to the ball for PNG's seventh try.
Playing in his 22nd Test match for the Kumuls, Martin was perfect with the boot with seven from seven to go with 93 run metres.
Wingers Robert Derby and Dudley Dotoi combined for 379 run metres while veteran centre Nene Macdonald racked up 203 metres as the Kumuls opened their World Cup in style.
Source: rlwc2026.com
