Tonga gets royal boost ahead of World Cup game of death

The loser of Saturday's match will face a massive uphill battle to qualify for the semi-finals, and Tonga coach Kristian Woolf was thrilled to have the royal family on board.

"It's great having their presence, and it just shows how important it is to the country and how important our players are to the country," Woolf said on Friday.

"I think (the King) came in 2017 to the World Cup when we played England, and I think he came to a game in New Zealand in 2019 as well. 

"So only a couple of times. Obviously, it's a big deal, and it's something that doesn't get lost on our players."

Although world No.5 Tonga are ranked two places below England, they will start the match as slight favourites.

England lead the head-to-head record 6-0 but Tonga did beat a Great Britain side in 2019.

"We're rated number five in the world. We've been as high as number two before, and I think we've got a squad that deserves to be a little bit higher than (our current ranking)," Woolf said.

"Now it all comes down to our performance. We'll prove that tomorrow night, or we won't prove that, it's as simple as that. 

"If we get our performance right, then I've got full confidence about what this group can do."

Tonga will face world No.23 Lebanon and world No.4 Samoa in their other two pool games.

But with only two of the six nations across Pools B and C to qualify for the final four, a win against England is a must.

An interesting side plot to the match will see Woolf coaching against England captain George Williams - a playmaker he's just signed for the Dolphins.

"What impressed me is he's a leader first and foremost," Woolf said. 

"He's been the captain of numerous sides (at) club land, and he's been a really high level, consistent performer for a long time.

"We know that we're going to have to be right on our game defensively, and we're also going to have to challenge them with the way we can play.

"It's going to be a high-level game."