England v Tonga 6 November 2021 -Autumn Nations

England's George Furbank, head coach Eddie Jones and Maro Itoje during a training session

ENGLAND v TONGA  AUTUMN NATIONS SERIES 2021 OPTAFACTS

●England andTonga have met three times before,al those clashes coming in Rugby World Cup pool stage fixtures with England emerging victorious  on each occasion(1999,2007,2019).

●England won101-10  when they played Tonga at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, one of five occasions that England have reached a century of points in a men’s international fixture, also doing so against the Netherlands(1998), the USA(1999), Romania(2001 )and Uruguay(2003).

●England have won 19 out of 19 previous fixtures against the traditional Pacific Nation sides, beating Samoa eight times Fij seven times,  Tonga three times and the Pacific IslandsXV once; the average margin of  those victories has been 28points with none of those19 games having been decided  by a single figure margin.

●During the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup England won all four of their games,in fact they have won 16 of their last 17 fixtures in the Autumn (exc.RWC&warm-ups), are dating back to 2014 with NewZealand (2018)the only side to beat  them in that time.

●At home England have lost just one of their last 18 matches (W16,D1), the only occasions they didn’ trecord a victory in that period both came against Scotland  6-11 defeat to Scotland in the first round of the 2021 Six Nations and  adramatic 38-38 draw in the 2019 edition of the same competition.

●Tonga have lost each of their last10 Tests played against the current  Tier1nations, those defeats coming by an average margin of 42points; the Sea Eagles’last win against Tier1opposition came against Italy in November 2016(19-17).

●Walter Fifita gained 72 metres against Scotland during the opening weekend of he Autumn Nations Series, the most of any Tonga player and the fourth most of any player overall behind the Scotland back  three; Fifita’s gain came from just four carries, anaverage of 18metres per carry–the most of any player in the match.

●Of players to make10+carries in the Premiership this season, only two have averaged10+metresgained per carry–England duo Max Malins(11.4,365m from 32carries) and George Furbank(10.2,235m from 23carries).

England head coach Eddie Jones (left) and Courtney Lawes during the training session at Pennyhill Park November2021

●England’s Courtne Lawes(55)was the only player to make50+tackles during thisyear’s British&IrishLions tour, making the joint most dominant tackles(5,level with Tom Curry and Siya Kolisi) ;th NorthamptonSaints second row also won the most lineouts of any player on the tour(27).

●Three players from Tonga’s Autumn Nations Series squad ply their trade in the English Premiership, Hosea Saumaki is a new addition at Leicester Tigers, Steve Mafiis currently at London Irish having had a previous stint withTigers and SioneVailanu is now at WorcesterWarriors having also played for Wasps and Saracens.