RWC 2019: England vs Tonga, prediction, time, live scores, TV, result and news

England will be out to erase the unsavoury memories of the 2015 Rugby World Cup on home soil. They kick off this year’s campaign in Japan with Sunday’s clash against Tonga at the Sapporo Dome.

Four years ago, a team coached by Stuart Lancaster crumbled at the first hurdle, finishing third in their pool after defeats to Wales and Australia. 

Eddie Jones was brought in following the horror show and immediately made his mark, winning back-to-back Six Nations titles. 2018 and 2019 have not been plain sailing, but England remain one of the strongest teams in the world on paper.

Tonga, by contrast, could hardly have had a worse build-up to the tournament. After finishing fifth out of six teams at the 2019 Pacific Nations Cup, they crumbled to a 29-19 defeat to Fiji and an embarrassing 92-7 loss to the All Blacks.

What made the defeat to New Zealand particularly humiliating was Steve Hansen’s decision to play the last 15 minutes with 14 men. That will be fresh in Tonga’s memory and they will be out to prove a point.

Scott Wisemantel, Jones’ attack coach, was quoted by the Mirror as saying: “Yes, I want to win this game and win it well, but at the same time I want to see Tonga play well. I want it to be a contest. They’re the values of rugby, aren’t they?”

England vs Tonga: Rugby World Cup kick-off time and prediction

Kick off time: It’s the late shift for these two sides. Kick off is at 12:15 (SAST) on 22 September. All the action is live on SuperSport 1.

For the RWC, we’ll be using a prediction algorithm from a New Zealand anorak.

Prediction:  Eddie Jones’ men are among the tournament’s strongest teams whilst Tonga’s form heading into the World Cup is worrying. England are backed to win by 50 points. The algorithm favours England, too – with over 40 points. Ouch.

RWC 2019 live scores and result: England vs Tonga

Additional reporting by AFP/World Rugby.