Harry Newman hailed as 'credit to Leeds Rhinos ' after England complete Tonga Test series whitewash

Newman played in all three Tests and scored England’s final try of the series as they completed a 3-0 whitewash in front of a 15,000 crowd at AMT Headingley. He also provided the final pass for Matty Ashurst’s touchdown and Wane said: “I am really happy [with him].

“Harry has been under the pump, we’ve had some really honest chats and the way he has responded. Leeds have a good player there.

“He’s a really talented player and he showed that today. A couple of things he did were a bit off, but overall his attitude and his behaviour in camp has been so good. He is a credit to Leeds Rhinos.”

England followed up their 22-18 victory in the first Test at St Helens and last week’s 14-4 victory in Huddersfield with a dominant display which Wane felt was their best of the series. He said: “The conditions were a bit different to the first two Tests. It was drier and firmer and we played a bit more. We did good and I am unbelievably proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve done it.”

England led 14-0 at half-time and were 26 points ahead before Tonga scored a consolation try with 13 minutes left. Wane said: “I thought we stuck to our task well. They had spells in the first half,they had five or six sets on our line. They can play, they are athletic and big and they tested us, but I thought the desire to defend and the detail in what we did was absolutely outstanding.”

Wane insisted he has “nothing but praise” for the way his players have handled the series as a whole. He added: “We have had a bit of a different week in the way we’ve trained, but it has worked.

“We were ready, we were fresh in all three Tests and we got the job done. I so badly wanted to win this game. The fact we were 2-0 up didn’t matter to me. To win in the manner we did, I was desperate for 3-0, especially for Elliott Whitehead in his final England game.”