SAINTS duties meant Saints boss Kristian Woolf had to watch from 12,000 miles away as his Tonga side went down 26-6 to New Zealand in front of sell-out crowd at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland.
However, it was not just the head coach who was missing from the Auckland arena - and Woolf will be able to call upon his Super League players for the autumn's World Cup.
Among those who he says are "putting their hands up" are his Saints Tongan triumvirate of Agnatius Paasi, Konrad Hurrell and Will Hopoate.
Paasi, who scored his first try in the red vee on Thursday, has been in fine form - and Woolf described his contribution as outstanding on both sides of the ball.
Woolf said: "Iggy has been great for us all year and one of our top couple of players all season.
"Every time we bring him off the bench he makes a real impact. He is starting to free up and use his skill a bit more, which has been great.
"He was outstanding and that was his first try for the club. He has had a couple of near misses but that is his first.
"He comes on and makes and impact like that and plays the way he did.
"What I like about him is not just the way he carries the ball – even if that is what he gets most noticed for making an impact with his offload and his skill.
"But he’s working really hard in defence and is really physical and is getting both sides of his game right.
"I love what he is doing at the moment and we just need to keep him going.
"I took him off tonight because I needed to get blokes back on the field to make sure everyone gets a good run rather than anything else. He would have had another 10 minutes in him no dramas.
"And it was a good reward for him getting that try as well."
Woolf confirmed that all three of the Saints Tongans - Paasi, Hurrell and Hopoate - are on his radar for World Cup selection.
"Iggy, Koni and Will Hopoate are all doing a great job to say they will need to be considered," he said.
"Will has not been on the field as much as he would have liked but we know what he offers if you look at his class from last week. We know what he is going to offer when he does get on the field a little bit more.
"It is great to see and we have some other guys over here (in Super League) putting their hands up too.
"We are going to have a terrific squad there for the World Cup."
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