England vs Tonga: Former St Helens head coach Kristian Woolf relishing leading Tongans on historic tour | Rugby League News

Head coach Kristian Woolf is excited to be overseeing Tonga’s three-Test series against England later this year; the series kicks off in St Helens, where the 47-year-old enjoyed a successful spell which included leading the club to three straight Super League title triumphs

Even though Kristian Woolf is now based over 10,000 miles away in Brisbane, he still finds himself being drawn back to St Helens.

The Tonga head coach will be back in the Lancashire town he called home for three years – while steering Saints to a hat-trick of Super League titles – in October this year, when the Pacific Islanders kick off their historic three-Test series against England.

Woolf, now assistant and eventual heir to former England boss Wayne Bennett at NRL side Dolphins, and the Tongans have already been at Totally Wicked Stadium since the last of those triumphs, playing two of their Rugby League World Cup pool stages games there in 2022.

The 47-year-old could not think of a better place to begin this year’s tour, though, in a match which will mark the first time England have played in St Helens since a World Cup clash with Russia at Knowsley Road 23 years ago, and could see Saints stars Konrad Hurrell, Will Hopoate and Agantius Paasi featuring among Tonga’s Super League-based contingent.

“Being back in St Helens is outstanding,” Woolf said. “I couldn’t be prouder of my association with St Helens as a team and a town, and I’d hope that means something to the people.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing the people again and we’re certainly going to have some players from St Helens involved.

“I would like to think we left a great mark [during the World Cup]. We got to a lot of schools and clubs and the players enjoyed their time there, and I think it was really well appreciated by the people of St Helens.”

Tonga’s Daniel Tupou in action against Wales in St Helens at last year’s World Cup

Wins over Papua New Guinea and Wales in St Helens, plus a record 92-10 thumping of the Cook Islands in Middlesbrough, took Tonga into the quarter-finals of last year’s World Cup where they were edged out 20-18 by eventual runners-up and Pacific rivals Samoa.

It was the Tongans rather than the Samoans who had been tipped to make history ahead of the tournament, though, on the back of their wins over Great Britain and world champions Australia in 2019.

Woolf is still frustrated his side did not achieve their potential and believes this year’s tour will play a part in helping them unlock that and adapt to northern hemisphere conditions ahead of the next World Cup in France in just over two years’ time.

“If we look at the squad we had, it was probably more talented than the squad we had in 2019, which was even more disappointing,” Woolf said.

We’ve never had the opportunity to tour the UK or play a three-game series against anybody, so it’s a very historic and proud occasion for us, and a bit of a grow-up moment that we do get to be the headline team and play a series.

Tonga head coach Kristian Woolf

“Playing well in the UK is something we haven’t done so well if you look at our history over the last 10 or so years and it’s something we’ve got to learn how to do.

“The next World Cup isn’t in the UK, but it’s in that part of the world and we need to learn how to get over there and play to our potential and prepare to play at our potential too.

“That’s a big part of this tour and we certainly want to make amends for our disappointments in the World Cup.”

This year’s tour will be only the second time the team have toured England outside of the global gathering, having featured in the Federation Shield in 2006 where they lost to the host nation in a final which saw two of their players sent off following a mass brawl in the closing stages.

It is another step towards ensuring teams outside rugby league’s traditional ‘big three’ of England, Australia and New Zealand have regular, meaningful international fixtures, and Woolf is delighted to see how his side have been gaining more Test opportunities since he took charge in 2014.

It remains a source of frustration in the sport that there is not yet a longer-term calendar in place in the build-up to the next World Cup and beyond. Woolf, however, is confident that will soon become a reality for both his team and the likes of fellow Pacific nations Samoa, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

“I do talk to [head coach] Matt Parish from Samoa a lot and I know they’ve been in a similar boat as long as we have,” Woolf said.

“Up to the 2017 World Cup, you only knew you had one game every year and prior to 2013 you didn’t know what you might have and that’s why we’ve seen that cycle of Tongan heritage or even Tonga-born players playing for other nations because they knew what opportunity they had there.

Samoa and Tonga are aiming for more Test matches against rugby league’s traditional ‘big three’

“There is a real drive there to start making sure we have a more meaningful international calendar. I do think we’re heading in the right direction and there is an appetite there. This series is a big part of us heading in the right direction.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity for us. We’ve never had the opportunity to tour the UK or play a three-game series against anybody, so it’s a very historic and proud occasion for us, and a bit of a grow-up moment that we do get to be the headline team and play a series.”