THOUGH far from their best, England wrapped up the three-match Test series against Tonga with a 14-4 win at Huddersfield to follow the 22-18 first Test win at St Helens a week ago. England claimed they were motivated by remarks coming from the Tonga camp after the England win in St Helens.
Man of the match at Huddersfield was Warrington winger Matty Ashton, whose two first-half tries took a lot of scoring, the first off centre Harry Newman’s excellent pass and the second from a pin-point cross kick by Mikey Lewis, and proved decisive.
The question I want to ask is this: How long is it since there were two Rochdale-born lads, both products of the local community game, in an England team? I speak, of course, of Ashton, a former Mayfield star, and prop Matty Lees, who was brought up in Newhey on the Oldham-Rochdale boundary and now stars for St Helens, living in Billinge.
In this region, Oldham has always held the upper hand and even now there are probably many more Oldham boys playing in Super League than there are Rochdale boys, but it’s many a year since Paul Sculthorpe, Iestyn Harris, Barrie Mac, Kevin Sinfield , Mike Ford, Terry Flanagan, Des Foy and so on were strutting their stuff at international level and its worthy of note that only a week or two after new-look Roughyeds signed another Rochdale boy in utility back Ben O’Keefe, a player in whom Fordy has high hopes, we should see both Lees and Ashton in the England team, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
Half-back Harry Smith kicked three goals, but England’s only points in a stop-start second-half came from a penalty. They led 12-0 at half-time, but it was more of a workmanlike win than a spectacular victory. As Frank Myler used to say: “A win’s a win.”
England lined up like this: Welsby; Ashton, Newman, King, Johnstone; Lewis, Smith; Burgess, Clark, Lees, Bateman, Whitehead, Radley. Subs: Walker, McKeeken, Hill. Farrell.
The third Test, will be played at Headingley next Saturday, November 4, kicking off at 2.30pm. In an international double-header England Women play Wales, kicking off at noon.
