England player ratings vs Tonga: Captain’s display from Courtney Lawes as Ben Youngs serves up reminder

England kicked off their Autumn Nations Series with a comfortable win over Tonga.

Simon Collings was at Twickenham to see Eddie Jones’ side in action...

Ellis Genge 8

Lively in the loose and did well in the scrum too. Made a few dangerous breaks and looks to becoming a leader in this side.

Jamie George 8

Wasn’t in the squad at the start of the autumn but did well today. Scored two tries and setup Ben Youngs for one too.

Kyle Sinckler 7

Was quite quiet in the loose but did a good job at the set-piece. A solid afternoon’s work from the prop.

Maro Itoje 8

As usual he was a menace at the breakdown and in defence. Solid in the line-out and capped off a good performance with a try too.

Jonny Hill 6

A quiet afternoon for the Exeter man. Went about his business in a tidy fashion and didn’t make many errors.

Courtney Lawes 9

A captain’s performance from the flanker, who was leading the side in the absence of Owen Farrell. His hands were excellent all afternoon and made an amazing tackle to stop Telusa Veainu scoring.

Sam Underhill 6

A decent performance, even if he was outshone by Lawes next to him. Tackled everything and worked hard at the breakdown, but taken off at half-time.

Tom Curry 7

A pretty solid game from him playing at No8. Didn’t really have many breaks to speak of until later in the game. Defensively solid and played flanker in the second-half.

Ben Youngs 9 | Star man

Coming under pressure for his spot from other 9s, but had a good performance today. Kept things moving quickly and scored twice.

George Furbank 7

Thrown in late on to play fly-half given Owen Farrell was ruled out after testing positive for Covid-19. Made some nice breaks and did well.

Jonny May 8

Scored two tries and looked a threat when he was given a chance to get into the game. A great performance from the wing.

Manu Tuilagi 7

Looked back to his best with a few powerful runs. Defensively he was excellent too. He will be key to England’s midfield this autumn.

Henry Slade 8

Had a few really nice breaks and came into his own during the second-half. Missed a few tough conversions and threw an intercepted pass, though.

Adam Radwan 7

Scored a nice try after just three minutes, where he showed good footwork. Looked dangerous when he had the ball in hand.

Freddie Steward 6

Was pretty quiet during the afternoon. Looked solid under the high ball when tested.

Replacements

Alex Dombrandt (Underhill 40’) 7

Made a few marauding runs when he came on and looked a threat. His size is a big help to England’s back row.

Marcus Smith (Furbank 52’) 8

Has barely trained this week but grew into the game. Had quick hands at times and tried to raise England’s tempo. Scored a try late on and setup another. Looks a star.

Mark Atkinson (Tuilagi 58’) 6

A debut for the centre. Carried and tackled well during his brief cameo.

Charlie Ewels (Lawes 62’) 6

Came on and did a solid job, mainly in the set-piece.

Joe Marler (Genge 67’) N/A

Will Stuart (Sinckler 67’) N/A

Alex Mitchell (Youngs 67’) N/A

Jamie Blamire (George 71’) N/A

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