EORL CRABTREE'S England beat Tonga 32-14 to win the inaugural Federation Shield - but it will be remembered for a fiery finish in which two Tonga players were sent off.

Three Tonga players had already been sin-binned when Solomon Haumono and Joe Foliaki saw red after the mass brawl.

Excellent first-half scores from Rob Purdham, Brett Ferres and Mark Calderwood helped England to an 18-10 half-time lead.

Tonga closed to 18-14 but England went clear with two tries before Tonga's discipline deserted them.

The greasy conditions at the Halton Stadium put a premium on looking after the ball in the collision and Tonga paid an early price for their failure to do so.

Purdham opened the scoring after 12 minutes after good work from Lee Radford, Ashley Gibson and Hodgson gave him the opportunity.

Ferres pounced on a loose ball at the end of a prolonged spell of pressure to score England's second try.

Taniela Tuiaki cut the gap, powering through three tackles to cross on the right and Etuate Uaisele was unlucky to have his touchdown ruled out for a knock-on while contesting the high ball.

A fight broke out after a tackle involving Ferres and Makasini Richter, and when things simmered down both players were sent to the sin-bin.

But moments later, Mateo - with blood still streaming from his nose as a result of the fight - scored a superb try, collecting a return pass from Willie Tupou after putting the loose forward through the hole.

Shortly before the break, Wigan winger Calderwood was able to stroll over on the left, the beneficiary of a superb Nick Scruton break.

Tonga's heads did not drop, though, and they scored the first points of the second half through Tyrone Smith's try.

The score buoyed Tonga and, after forcing a repeat set, it took a breath-taking tackle from Lee Smith to stop Mateo just short of the line.

England finally began to draw clear through Hodgson's well-taken try after 62 minutes.

With Giants ace Crabtree starting to run riot, England began to turn the screw and the pressure eventually resulted in a sin-binning for Samuela Moa.

England made sure of the win through Jamie Rooney's 69th-minute try after Crabtree's long pass had helped to create a break from the outstanding Calderwood.

With the match out of their reach, Tonga lost the plot with a string of penalties coming about as a result of swinging arms and high tackles, and they had Lopini Paea yellow-carded.

And with time running out, the biggest fight of the match broke out.

Referee Richard Silverwood took several minutes to bring it under control and when he did Haumono, who was substitute and came on to join in, and Foliaki were sent off.