3. England 101 – 10 Tonga – 1999 Rugby World Cup Pool B
October 15th 1999, Twickenham Stadium, London
An interesting and rather surprising statistic, is that England have only ever played against Tonga on three occasions throughout their history. This fixture would seem commonplace in any Autumn Series or for a Rugby World Cup warm-up test, yet the current list of encounters between England and Tonga can be counted on one hand with room to spare. England are better acquainted with the Pacific Island nations of Samoa and Fiji, having lined-up against each side on eight occasions, with the latest Twickenham meeting against the Flying Fijians bringing England’s first ever defeat last Summer.
The first of the three encounters against Tonga came on the cusp of the new Millennium, and four years into the professional era of test match rugby. The two sides met in the final match of pool B, in the 1999 Rugby World Cup, with England again running out monumental win over their first-time opponents. The floodgates opened at Twickenham Stadium, with over 72,000 eager England fans witnessing this one-way demolition against the Tongans. Despite this being the first time England had lined up against Tonga, the Twickenham faithful were more than familiar with some key players in the Sea Eagles’ set-up.
Tongan fullback Sateki Tuipulotu was well known for his time at Leeds and later Worcester Warriors, and kicked five consolation points admist the downpour of English tries. Sir Clive Woodward was two years into his tenure as England Head Coach for this match, with eight of his England greats running in tries against the Tongans. Jeremy Guscott, Phil Greening, Daniel Luger, Austin Healy and Will Greenwood all scored twice, with the additional tries coming from Matt Dawson, Matt Perry and Richard Hill. Paul Grayson had a near-perfect day from the tee, kicking 12 out of 13 conversions, and added an extra four penalties to rack up the almighty score-line.
4. England 110 – 0 Netherlands: 1999 Rugby World Cup Qualifying Match – Europe Pool Zone Two
November 14th 1998, Kirklees Stadium, Huddersfield
In what stands as the one and only encounter between England and the Netherlands to date, Sir Clive Woodward’s men ran out a historic score-line for their country’s biggest ever win. It was always going to be hard-hitting traffic for the Dutch, but not even the most optimistic of England supporter expected to see their side run in 16 tries in Huddersfield. The match came in the bygone era of Rugby World Cup qualifying matches, with the modern system seeing the sides that finish in the top three of each pool securing their spot for the next competition in four years time.
This match also witnessed Paul Grayson set a new record, for most successful conversions in a single test match for England. The Northampton Saints man sent the ball sailing through the uprights 15 times, and smashed the previous record which stood at nine. This mismatch got the cogs turning for the re-structuring of the Rugby World Cup qualifying process, which eventually arrived at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The records of this match are sparce, yet one recount from the archives describes how the Netherlands barely got their hands on the ball, with the majority of Dutch possession coming at the re-starting kick-offs after each try.
The score-board operator was amongst the hardest workers that night in Huddersfield, with England keeping a consistent flow of try-scoring against a Netherlands side, who had reportedly recently lost to non-league amateur rugby club London Nigerians. Neil Back started off the scoring, with Austin Healy, Will Greenwood, Jeremy Guscott, Richard Cockerill, Matt Corry, Matt Dawson, Dan Luger and Nick Beal also contributing with multiple tries. Some notable records from this demolition saw Neil Back score the fastest hat-trick of any England flanker after 27 minutes, and his fourth try equalled the record for the most tries scored by any England forward in a test match.