ELEVEN HEAVEN
England 69 Tonga 3: Jones’ men turn on style with ELEVEN tries in crushing win as May, Youngs & George score twice each
BEN YOUNGS, Jonny May and Jamie George went over twice each as England thumped Tonga at Twickenham with ELEVEN tries.
The Leicester Tigers scrum-half, Gloucester winger and Saracens hooker helped the Red Rose turn on the style in their change red strip.
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In total, Eddie Jones' men racked up a whopping ELEVEN tries as Adam Radwan, Maro Itoje, Marcus Smith, Jamie Blamire and Alex Mitchell also scored in the emphatic victory.
Courtney Lawes helped ensure England did not concede any tries with a stunning piece of defending to deny Telusa Veainu their only five-pointer during the first half.
And Tonga's Viliami Fine got himself sent off for throwing his shoulder into super-sub Smith as he lost his cool.
The absence of Owen Farrell after a positive Covid test proved somewhat fortuitous as George Furbank filled in and enjoyed pulling the strings.
He then made way for Smith to deliver a sparkling 30-minute cameo as the Twickenham fans got a good glimpse of what they hope will be the man to drive the team all the way to the next World Cup.
Jones, however, will have been just as delighted by the stellar displays of some of his stalwarts, not least Lawes, Manu Tuilagi and evergreen scrum-half Youngs on his 110th appearance.
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Radwan, who scored a hat-trick on his debut against Canada in July, was on the mark again on his second appearance, squeezing over in the corner in the third minute.
Hooker George was driven over for the second and May got a superb third after Tuilagi's trademark burst through two defenders had splintered the Tongan rearguard.
Solomone Kata was sin-binned for taking out May in the air and a minute later Ellis Genge blasted through and popped a pass for Itoje to score only his fourth try in his 49th England match.
Tonga seemed set for their first try when full-back Veainu intercepted 80 metres out and twice side-stepped opposite number Freddie Steward, only for Lawes to somehow get back and haul him down as he was about to cross for an extraordinary intervention.
England finished the half on top as Youngs scampered down the blindside for their fifth try to send them in 29-3 ahead.
A disjointed start to the second half persuaded Jones to throw Smith into the fray, much to the delight of the home fans.
Youngs, however, showed there was still plenty of life in the old brigade as he stole the ball at a scrum and ran 40 metres for his second try.
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Centre Mark Atkinson came on for his debut and immediately helped set up May for his second.
Tonga replacement Fine was red-carded 12 minutes from time and moments later George claimed another trademark maul try.
Smith then scored after a great run by man-of-the-match Henry Slade before setting up Blamire for the tenth as Tonga's defence disintegrated, before debutant replacement scrum-half Mitchell had the final word.
Slade said: "We are trying to reinvigorate ourselves, and I think we saw that today.
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"It's about building relationships and friendships on and off the field.
"We have a good mixture of boys who have been here for a while, some youth, some experience, some energy and I think we have a good balance at the moment.";
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