Take a bow, Tonga, but England are deserved winners

Tony ‘the Badger’ Hargraves is the best sports trader I have ever known. He never participates in any sport that involves his beloved England, declaring that “emotion will always impact your judgement”.

We witnessed that emotion overflow after England had just defeated Tonga 20-18 in a memorable match.

The Badger would have looked on proudly from his Yorkshire trading office and surely must have been tempted to trade against England at $1.01 when they led Tonga 20 to nil with only eight minutes to go.

That means for every $100 invested against England he would lose only $1 if they won – in other words Tonga had one chance in a hundred to win. His figures suggest this is value, and he has won a fortune doing just this on horse racing, football and cricket around the world.

To put this in layman’s terms, the global marketplace considered England a 99 per cent chance of winning with only eight minutes left on the clock. The result was a given, but someone forgot to tell the brave Tongans.

Impressive young Bronco Tevita Pangai Junior barged over for a soft try in the 73rd minute, then giant hooker Siliva Havili, also eligible for the Kiwis, scored in the 77th minute before the brilliant Tui Lolohea scored in the 78th minute to make the score 20-18.

(NRL Photos/Grant Trouville)

With seconds to go England’s champion winger Jermaine McGillvary took an intercept pass from Tongan fullback Will Hopoate and looked set to score before a one-on-one strip by Pangai Junior. The ball was regathered by Fifita, who was just in front of Pangai Junior, who stripped the ball – confirmed by digital measurement – and should have rendered a penalty to England, which would have finished the game right there.

That small fact has been overshadowed by ’emotion’ and Andrew Fifita’s ‘no try’, Fifita claiming he was stripped and played on to score, catapulting Tonga into a historic World Cup final against Australia.

Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story!

Social media was rife straight after the game claiming bias that the Tongans were robbed, underlining the Badger’s edict that “emotion will always impact your judgement”.

England were brilliantly prepared by living legend Wayne Bennett, and despite the heart attack finish, they can take plenty out of their victory.

Pundits who consider that England were lucky have had too much kava. We have already established that England should have received a penalty with seconds to go after the McGillvary strip, and had the game gone to the video ref, he would have ruled accordingly – and had he not, then he certainly did not have enough evidence to overrule the on-field decision.

England are winners either way. The Daily Telegraph‘s Michael Carayannis got it right when interviewed by Jimmy Smith on the Weekend Big Sports Breakfast, saying, “It was a loose carry (by Fifita) every day of the week”.

(NRL Photos/Dave Acree)

This was an awesome performance by Tonga, who boast a world-class forward pack and bench to match. They were relentless with ongoing powerful hits.

Jason Taumalolo may retire as the game’s greatest ever forward, and not even with Andrew Fifita alongside him could they create points against a well-drilled England.

Watching the game it was inconceivable that England had posted 20 points after 68 minutes, and after 72 minutes Tonga was still scoreless. This is a massive tribute to the England defence and their game plan, which was all about set completions. They were near faultless until somehow Taumalolo found another gear and gave Tonga a ‘life’.

When Jason Batemen went in for England’s third try at the 67-minute mark his teammates clearly started to think about playing Australia in the final at Suncorp next Saturday. The aggression had dropped off. The line speed was not as pronounced, and this is all it took for a photo finish.

Three tries in five minutes by Tonga would have disappointed Bennett, but he knows deep down, that his team did enough for most of the game to be competitive in the final against the unstoppable Kangaroos.

It is going to be an emotionally charged world cup final between the two best nations.

Wonder what the Badger thinks?