Other matches can’t provide the dramatic tension that this centuries-old system does: the same players representing the same teams facing off again in a week with new gripes and feuds to sort out.
“We lost the game ourselves; I don’t feel like they beat us.”
Tonga’s new captain Addin Fonua-Blake gave this first-ever three-game series in England involving a tier two nation its first Test series narrative with that quote - along with those of his coach, Kristian Woolf, following a 22-18 English victory at Totally Wicked Stadium.
