ONE Warrington Wolves player was happy with how his country performed in the Tonga versus Great Britain Test match in Hamilton on Saturday.

Ben Murdoch-Masila lined up against clubmates Chris Hill and Gareth Widdop in the second row for Tonga, who achieved a 14-6 success in the country’s first ever meeting with the Lions.

And he feels a repeat of the showing against Wayne Bennett’s side against Australia at the weekend will allow them to cause problems for the best side in the world.

For Murdoch-Masila and the red army, Saturday’s defeat of GB marked further progression of Tonga’s standing in world rugby league, building on the win over New Zealand in the 2017 World Cup and pushing England to the wire in the semi-finals of that tournament.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game against Great Britain,” said the 28-year-old man-mountain.

“We knew what we were up against and we just had to stop it.

“I’m real proud of what we’ve done. We’ve made a statement and I’m really pleased.”

Tonga doubled their 30th-minute 6-0 lead over GB with a stunning Sione Katou try right on the half-time hooter .

“That try just before half-time was massive for us, going into half-time two tries up,” said Murdoch-Masila.

“It was a massive boost to us coming out in the second half, which was a matter of holding them out and sticking to our sets.”

Murdoch-Masila enjoyed playing against his club skipper Hill and new teammate for 2020 Widdop.

“I made sure my first run was straight at Chris Hill but he got me and there was a little chuckle in the tackle,” he admitted.

Now the Tongans are busy preparing to face the Kangaroos in an electric triple-header at Eden Park, Auckland, on Saturday.

New Zealand will take on Great Britain Lions, Samoa will face Fiji and Tonga will play Australia as part of the RLIF Oceania Cup.

“Coming up against the number one country in the world in Australia will be a good test for us but going on the performance against Great Britain we’re in with a chance. I’m pleased with what we did on Saturday.”