Because of poor decisions by International Rugby League I couldn't watch the match anywhere so was listening to it on the radio. Truly, Robbie Hunter-Paul is an international treasure.
Not entirely sure why the English press were saying it was a shock, other than them never giving Tonga the credit they are due.
If they'd said the first Tongan try was a shock, that would be true, it was against the run of play but after that it was a lot more even.
I'm a Saints fan, spiritually, I prefer what McDermott was trying to get this England team to do rather than the kind of rugby Shaun Wane had them playing.
On the other hand, Wane looked at the players he had and played them in a system that worked to their strengths. If you're going for quick and clever, why are you not playing Mikey Lewis (never mind Jake Connor who didn't even get picked)? George Williams and Harry Smith have their uses, but quick and clever isn't it.
I don't blame McDermott for some of the errors because the England players appeared to develop poor decision making skills every time they got into the Tongan 20 meters, but there was some oomph lacking.
I don't know if McDermott's made that choice because he doesn't think this front row can bring the biff, and they're big units but they don't scare me the way say Burgesses plural, or Elliott Whitehead or James Graham did. (Challenge, go a whole thing without mentioning Jamie Graham, glorious failure).
So fine, you aren't doing wham bam rugby, you're running the ball instead, but then you have to involve the wingers, especially if one of them is Dom Young. And that seemed to be missing.
So England now have to rely on beating France and Lebanon and hoping the other results go their way. I'm going to be really upset about either England or PNG not making it, I fear.
Data visualisation project:
Much like the last World Cup, I'm doing a small data visualisation project to see if I can spot patterns in player selections and how the team performs.
One game doesn't give much data, but here is what I have so far.
England's point-scorers by name and time
Very little there other than Savala is the chosen kicker.
Very little there other than Savala is the chosen kicker.
Because there were only two tries for England, the chart of which players are on the pitch when England score is uninformative. The one for "who is on the pitch when England concede" looks like this.
You can see Thompson and Havard coming on and off, and Jez Litten being given the last 20 minutes.
You can see Thompson and Havard coming on and off, and Jez Litten being given the last 20 minutes. The two equivalent bar charts for which players were present for point-scoring and point-conceding moments are below.
You can see who were rolled on as subs, King, Nsemba, Litten and O'Neill. According to nrl.com King and Nsemba swapped on for each other, and obviously Litten and O'Neill are a straight swap.
You can see who were rolled on as subs, King, Nsemba, Litten and O'Neill. According to nrl.com King and Nsemba swapped on for each other, and obviously Litten and O'Neill are a straight swap. 
Because England only had 4 point-scoring moments so the chart is simple, with the players who were together for all 4 points in purple and the ones present for fewer in orange. The one exception is Max King, who is in very pale yellow where he crosses over with Nsemba and O'Neill, suggesting they didn't play together as often when England scored. It makes sense for Nsemba because he was subbed on for him, and O'Neill got subbed off for Litten at around the same time.
There's a distinct split between the dark purple, the players most often together when England concede, section, and the second darkest (the darker orange). The latter includes O'Neill, Walters and Nsemba, who were substituted on and off rather than remaining with the main group throughout.
Ben Currie has the palest line because he only came on at minute 68.
Harvard and Walters were the players present for relatively fewer point-conceding moments, being in the darkest purple section for scoring but not for conceding (yes, I know I'm being nice about Wigan players. Yes, it feels wrong).
It'll be interesting to see what patterns develop over time.
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