England get promising glimpse of what's to come with battering of hopeless Tonga
It's not difficult to miss Leeds Rhinos star Cameron Smith in a crowd - even if he is wearing camouflage trousers.
As England’s women kicked off against Wales at Headingley, Smith was walking towards the turnstiles on St Michael’s Lane, his head down studying a piece of paper.
It’s that haircut you spot of course. Even in a bustling crowd, the outback mullet is rather distinctive.
Smith was checking his match ticket but you wonder what he’d think if he had been pondering Shaun Wane’s team line-up for the game against Tonga.
With loose forwards Victor Radley and Morgan Knowles out injured, Smith would have been a logical choice for a call-up after a terrific season in a poor Leeds side.
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Instead Leigh’s Robbie Mulhern packed down there, one of six props in the starting 17.
With a second row starting in the centres it was a side that had Wane’s gruntish DNA all over it.
But both men played well, Mulhern carrying on his excellent club form with Leigh and Currie quickly validating his boss’s choice by skilfully crossing for the first try.
I’ve never seen Wane so animated as he looked on the big screen when Currie went over… MY pick, MY player, MY try.
It was hardly a gamble, centre and second row are often interchangeable in this sport and Currie had played there before under Wayne Bennett.
But Wane knew if it had backfired then it would have been on his head.
There was no chance of that. Tonga never remotely looked like clawing a game back in this series, curiously lacklustre and even clueless at times and petulant as this game slowly moved beyond them.
The headlines went to Elliott Whitehead, a no-fuss, socks-down forward who was making his final appearance and led out the side.
No-fuss is perhaps belittling to his consistent contributions for this team over the years, way more evident watching from the stands than sat on your sofa.
He’s an 80-minute player for starters and Whitehead’s more often than not in the defensive rush that defines this Wane team so well.
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Whitehead and Wane share a joke after England's win in the third Test (PA)Victory was once again built on that exhaustive wall of players stopping and clinging to a strong and physical set of opponents.
Whitehead scores tries too and has the hands of a centre (see above) when the try-line is getting warmer.
Whitehead was given the man of the match award - before it was strangely changed to John Bateman.
But once again there was another player who wouldn’t be far off that accolade, one rightly named player of the series.
Harry Smith has suffered crises of confidence in his career, with ball in hand and ball from tee.
But over these three games he has been a perfect half-back for England, maturing in the role as he did for champions Wigan during the season.
It still baffles me how little pressure rushing defences put on him but then maybe that’s because good players find time in heavy traffic.
He’s not flash and isn’t a running half - but with either Mikey Lewis or George Williams alongside him that’s just fine.
He’s an orchestrator and knows exactly when to go way deep into the line before delivering the pass that presses the fast forward button.
In this game he also delivered the stand-out moment, that football-style cross-field volley which made the knowledgeable characters seated next to me nudge, spill their Bovril, applaud and chunter away well after Harry Newman had collected it to score his first try for his country.
Newman’s performance is another reason to savour what Wane may be building, even with the next international on the distant horizon.
His aggressive, stepping carries laced with moments of traditional skill suggested the shackles are coming off and all that potential may be realised in this England shirt.
And on a weekend when the Kiwis cheered up everyone reading this (bar anyone with an outback mullet) with a spanking victory over those damned Aussies there’s a lot to love moving forward.
This team was missing two world class wingers in Dom Young and Tommy Makinson yet Tom Johnstone and Matty Ashton both look the part.
One of the NRL’s standout centres Herbie Farnworth will slot alongside Newman in future.
And if by the time England next play those Kangaroos, stand-out young talents Sam Walters at Wigan and Saints prop George Delaney aren’t in the mix then I’ll eat my woollen bobble hat.
Only one thing further dampened a soggy autumnal day in Leeds and that was the women’s game that preceded England’s series victory.
It’s neither side’s fault it was such a mismatch and the squealing kids joyfully watching their role models score try after try clearly didn't care.
But for the international women’s game to be taken seriously when it is screened on the BBC, England must face better opposition than poor Wales.
Even against 12 players, they couldn’t fashion the simplest of overlaps against a very squeezed defence.
With the NRLW providing true entertainment every game and standards over there hurtling forward at a rapid pace, England will get left behind by the Aussies and Kiwis if this is the best they face.
That didn’t stop Amy Hardcastle providing an illuminating final moment on a day of two England victories.
As my family scurried out of the stand after the men’s win we passed the two-try player of the match and gave her big grins and a quick clap.
Her glowing smile and modest acknowledgment lit up the late afternoon gloom - a perfect end to another eventful season of rugby league.
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