James Roby hopes to call on experience as England face up to Tonga challenge
Tuesday 21 November 2017 22:59, UK
Hooker James Roby will draw on past World Cup experience as England prepare for an invasion of Tonga fans at Saturday's semi-final.
It is estimated that New Zealand contains 60,000 people of Tongan descent and they are expected to attend in their numbers at Auckland's Mount Smart Stadium in the hope of cheering their team to another shock victory.
The Tongans have been in party mood since the group win over New Zealand which proved so catastrophic for the hosts and, if the raucous atmosphere at a fans event in the city provided the England players with a taste of what to expect, they will be heading for a cauldron on Saturday.
With the Kiwis likely to cheer on the Pacific Islanders, Roby is expecting England to face the sort of hostile reception they received in Townsville for the opening game of the 2008 World Cup when the locals got behind Papua New Guinea.
"There will be a lot of Tongans here and with the Kiwis getting knocked out they might be on the Tongan side rather than ours," Roby said.
"We know what we will be up against. I remember how hostile it was when we played PNG in Townsville. It was our first game and all the Aussies were on our back. When we were warming up, they were shouting stuff and trying to sledge
us.
"They hated us from minute one. They weren't even from PNG. It comes with the territory, coming here to play in the World Cup."
Roby is part of an unchanged squad as England aim to reach their first World Cup final since 1995, although stand-off Kevin Brown will need to pass a head test after being concussed in the 36-6 quarter-final win over Papua New Guinea.
The St Helens hooker is not surprised Tonga, with the likes of Jason Taumalolo and Andrew Fifita in their ranks, are in the last four but he is confident England will be good enough to halt their winning run.
"They have been fantastic," he said. "They are a big, physical team but we like to think our pack is just as big and can match them physically.
"I'm confident if we play like we can, we will find ourselves in the final."
