Kasey Badger was named as referee for Tonga's victory over Wales on Monday night and is hoping more young girls will be inspired to follow in her footsteps.

Badger was in charge in front of a crowd of 7,752 in St Helens. Badger is one of two women named among the officials for the competition, alongside Australian compatriot Belinda Sharpe.

Speaking before the match, Badger said

"Any time something like this comes along, you carry with it the sense of taking the game forward. In this case, the sense of officiating for females.

"Hopefully this will boost the interest of people joining the refereeing ranks, specifically women. This shows there are genuine opportunities for women to progress to the world stage.

"Young girls could see this and think, 'I want to give that a crack.' It's not something I expected. I was thinking maybe I'd be a touch judge in the men's competition and referee in the women's."

Wales coach John Kear and his counterpart Kristian Woolf both praised Badger's performance.

"I though Kasey did a great job," Kear said. "It's important for rugby league to take that step forward."

Woolf added: "It was a great opportunity for her.

"It is a big occasion and she's obviously done a great job in the NRL. She had a great opportunity there and she's had a great opportunity tonight. It was great to see."

International Rugby League boss Troy Grant said: "On behalf of the IRL board, I congratulate Kasey Badger on her historic and well deserved appointment to the Wales-Tonga Test match.

"Kasey is helping to create history and a lasting legacy for not only women in league, but rugby league as a whole."