The Rugby League World Cup has reached the pinnacle with the trophy up for grabs and the Australia v Samoa is a historic moment in rugby league, not just a World Cup final, as a tier two nation tries to win the tournament for the first time.
Can the mighty, multiple winners Australia take home another win, or will the streets of suburban Brisbane and Sydney and the Pacific light up and sound off with car horns and flying Samoan flags with an upset.
Our Australia v Samoa Match Centre has a preview, stats, team lists before the game and a summary of the match afterwards with thoughts and stats. More than you could ever need or want.
If you want more information on all the results from the Group Stages and beyond – follow this link here.
Australia v Samoa Match Summary
Australia have won the Rugby League World Cup with a 30-10 over Samoa at Old Trafford on Saturday night. The Kangaroos made it look easy in the end, and Samoa will be left ruing their missed chances in attack to make more of a contest of the game.
The first five minutes of the match was mostly arm wrestle and not much sparkle, but an early dummy half kick from Chanel Harris-Tavita that nearly went for a 40-20 seemed to open up the game a bit, and it was Samoa who pressured more early. They had some half chances but were unable to convert, but certainly showed some good attacking intent, the very short in goals an issue for Samoa.
Ten minutes in and still no score but Australia had their first decent attack. A quick restart tap for a Samoan kick gone dead saw Jack Wighton turning around what was left of the Samoan defence, and he found Valentine Holmes who sped another 50 metres down field who was stopped by some great cover defence. It led to a repeat set a few tackles later.
From the subsequent set Australia scored the opening try of the game through Latrell Mitchell, who had to take a decent shot from the cover defence before brushing that off and slamming the ball down in the left corner. The final pass thrown by Nathan Cleary and key missed tackle from Anthony Milford. Cleary’s attempt at goal was woeful and the score remained 4-0.
With five minutes Australia had scored again, and this try seemed worryingly easy for Samoa. Josh Addo-Carr ran the ball through the middle and split about four Samoan defenders with ease, and had James Tedesco in support to draw the fullback and the Australian captain went in to score under the posts. Nathan Cleary enjoyed the easier kick and extended the lad to 10-0.
After gifting Australia a full set on their line, Samoa had to hold for repeat sets on their own line, but held strong and repelled the Australian attack. Now they had to find some points to get themselves back into the game, and they had a good run of consecutive sets at the Australian line not long after but were unable to convert into points.
Australia were the quite the opposite as they scored with their next opportunity. Helped up field by a set restart, Harry Grant went to the blind side on tackle five and Liam Martin was given a short blind side to work with and he powered through the Samoan defence from five metres to score. Nathan Cleary missed the sideline conversion again to leave the score 14-0. But it looked as close as Samoa were going to get sadly for the contest.
There was no further score until half time, and Australia went ito break on top, and Samoa looked spent. Perhaps the break would freshen them up for a final assault on the World Cup.
HALF TIME – AUSTRALIA 14 SAMOA 0
The second half didn’t start well with a Jaydn Su’a error on the first attacking set of the half, handing Australia the ball within their own half. That didn’t lead to points this time, and Samoa themselves had a decent chance on the back of an Australian error a few minutes later through Taylan May, but the Kangaroos cover defence was too good.
A huge moment in the 46th minute after an Australian play broke down through an error. Angus Crichton was on hand to pick up the loose ball and Chanel Harris-Tavita went to tackle him in case the play was still live and the Samoan player hit the deck quickly. Replays show that Crichton had got Chanel Harris-Tavita flush in the face with what looked like a forearm at best, and an elbow at worst. Crichton was sin binned which seemed just about right if it were forearm, but the Harris-Tavita went off with a HIA and looked done for the night. That meant a third hooker Samoa had lost for the tournament through injury.
This put Samoa on the attack, and they pressured the Kangaroos line with the extra player with consecutive sets, but again were unable to convert it into points.
Once again Australia were quick to punish the lack of points as they scored their fourth try of the match. The try was scored by Cameron Murray who ran a beautiful line through the Samoan defence, and helped by the perfect Nathan Cleary pass. Again Anthony Milford was the main offender for the line break. Nathan Cleary converted to extend the lead to 20 points despite being a player down.
Samoa lit up the crowd on the hour mark with their first try of the game, to give a sniff of a contest over the last quarter of the game. After switching direction late Jarome Luai threw a long, potentially intercept enticing pass, to the right which landing in Kelma Tuilagi’s hands before he passed it to Brian To’o who ran in untouched from 15 metres. Stephen Crichton converted to make the score 20-6.
James Tedesco effectively wrapped up the World Cup final with a try in the 68th minute coming off an outside-inside move between the Australian halves, and the Australian captain ran the perfect lien to split the Samoan defence. Cleary converted and the lead was back out to 20 points.
Intercept specialist Stephen Crichton pickpocketed the Austalian attack not long after that try to give them a small hope of a miracle comeback. Crichton’s intercept coming for the first pass from dummy half, so was sharp work. Sadly Crichton missed the conversion and the score remained 26-10.
Samoa had another couple of half chance to add some points but again were unable to convert. Which sort of summed up their night. Samoa had as many, if not more chances than Australia in attack but weren’t able to convert that to points when they need, and Australia were just so clinical when they needed to be. But to make the final is still a great achievement and great building blocks for the future of rugby league in Samoa.
The above point was emphasised when Latrell Mitchell ran in for the final try of the tournament, allowing Australia to celebrate in style. The try was set up by a great cut out pass from Nathan Cleary which gave Mitchell loads of space in front of him to run the 20 metres to score.
Australia had won another World Cup title, and had done so without a great deal of fuss and were more solid than spectacular. Except where Josh Addo-Carr was involved. It seems the settled side made some difference as the combinations looked less clunky that previously. They deserved their title by doing enough thoughout all their games, but you can help but feel that this tournament is a watershed moment for international rugby league with Samoa making the final, and the Pacific island nations being so strong. When the World Cup returns in 2025 in France, who knows how the international landscape has changed.
Australia v Samoa Final Score
AUSTRALIA 30
Tries: Latrell Mitchell 13′ James Tedesco 17′ Liam Martin 29′ Cameron Murray 52′ James Tedesco 68′ Latrell Mitchell 80′
Goals: Nathan Cleary 3/6
SAMOA 10
Tries: Brian To’o 60′ Stephen Crichton 70′
Goals: Stephen Crichton 1/2
Australia v Samoa Player of the Match
James Tedesco
Australia v Samoa Points of Interest
- The Australian squad numbers is still a stupid idea.
- Perhaps the NRL could introduce the World Cup balls as a way of handicapping Penrith’s domination in the NRL. The balls seemed to have slowed down Nathan Cleary’s conversion rate.
- The crowd was certainly a healthy one in the high 60 thousands, which is good for rugby league in general. They certainly didn’t hide which side they were on, and were quiet once Samoa were on the back foot.
- Was the Angus Crichton sin bin right? It sure looked like an elbow, and given the Samoans lost a key player from it, you could argue that Australia won from the situation, losing Crichton for only ten minutes and scoring while he was off anyway.
Australia v Samoa Post Match Stats
Australia v Samoa Teams
AUSTRALIA
In stupid squad number order
1 James Tedesco
9 Josh Addo-Carr
8 Latrell Mitchell
10 Jack Wighton
4 Valentine Holmes
7 Cameron Munster
14 Nathan Cleary
5 Jake Trbojevic
3 Ben Hunt
6 Reagan Campbell-Gillard
21 Liam Martin
17 Angus Crichton
24 Isaah Yeo
11 Cameron Murray
13 Patrick Carrigan
18 Tino Fa’asuamaleaui
20 Harry Grant
SAMOA
1 Joseph Suaali’i
2 Taylan May
4 Stephen Crichton
25 Tim Lafai
5 Brian To’o
6 Jarome Luai
7 Anthony Milford
15 Royce Hunt
20 Chanel Harris-Tavita
10 Junior Paulo
11 Ligi Sao
12 Jaydn Su’a
23 Oregon Kaufusi
8 Josh Papali’i
16 Spencer Leniu
17 Martin Taupau
22 Kelma Tuilagi
Australia v Samoa Preview
Who’d think that after the first weekend of games when Samoa were smashed 60-6 that we’d be here ahead of the big final with Samoa an excellent chance of winning the first ever World Cup for a tier two nation.
We’re actually tipping the upset here, and it’s not just because we’re too smart to pick the predictable Australian victory. For us it’s all about combinations.
On paper both sides are relatively evenly matched. We mean, two of the Samoan props could possibly have played for Australia as a point on that. But at the back, despite lacking the big game experience, you say that Joseph Suaali’i has been almost as effective as James Tedesco at the back. And for the speed and try scoring skills of Josh Addo-Carr you can have Brian To’o. Perhaps Australia has more game breaking power in the centres, but at least one of them can be hit and miss in the biggest of games. Australia edges the halves, but in saying that, Anthony Milford has been quite reliable with his kicking game, and neither Australian half has blown anyone away.
Australia’s biggest advantage is the ball playing and mobility of the back row. This is key for Australia. If Isaah Yeo, Liam Martin, Cameron Murray and Tino (if all are selected) can get things going, then Australia are on their way to victory. Not that there isn’t power and skill in the Samoan back row, but compared to Australia it is a weakness.
One thing you may notice is the pre match stats, and there you’ll see that Samoa are all over Australia for the key stats we have compiled. Brian To’o and Jospeh Suaali’i are killing the run metres and post contact metres, with James Tedesco and Josh Addo-Carr Australia’s best performers. Patrick Carrigan is Australia’s best for post contact metres, which is a decent effort considering he mostly comes off the bench. Nathan Cleary being Australia’s fourth highest on average run metres seems odd and a worry for the rest of the team to be honest.
Back to the combinations though. Australia have chopped and changed throughout the tournament, and while it’s great to give the squad a run, when you are in the moment of a baton passing phase like DCE to Nathan Cleary, they should have just backed Cleary from the start and played him in all games, and with Munster where possible. Sure niggles with James Tedesco haven’t helped, but if Nathan Cleary was the long term plan, they were better off not bringing DCE at all, and giving Nicho Hynes the experience of the tour. Instead, it has been will they, won’t they up until quarter finals it seemed.
Samoa meanwhile have been steady in their 1, 6 and 7. With Chanel Harris-Tavita deputising in game two at halfback only, but Suaali’i, Luai and Milford remaining for all other games. It helps massively, and must be argued that Samoa have improved as the competition has worn on. Australia meanwhile could be argued that they have looked worse at the competition has gone on. They certainly haven’t been great in the knockout stages.
Maybe Samoa’s harder run into the final has them set up for victory too. You can’t get bigger than beating Tonga, and they did just that in the quarter final. And by beating England in the semi final, they beat the side which in our opinion have been the form team to that point. They literally starved PNG of the ball for 20 minutes in their quarter final. But against Samoa they weren’t able to dominate, or in fact hold onto the ball in key moments. Australia meanwhile got past Lebanon easily, and as mentioned before weren’t great against New Zealand who also weren’t great.
Maybe we’re dreaming, and Australia have been sand bagging all this time, or it needed just one more game to click, and Josh Addo-Carr and Latrell Mitchell will light up the match with their attacking brilliance, being laid on by the Penrith connections of Cleary, Martin and Yeo. With a majestic James Tedesco finishing it all off. And some cheeky brilliance from Cameron Munster.
Maybe not. It’s a final and Samoa are on the edge of greatness, and we think they will get there. Just.
PREDICTION
Australia 18 Samoa 22
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Jarome Luai continues to be a polariser, but as this World Cup goes on, he continues to be a winner too. He was in the thick of the action against England setting up tries and involved in the occasional bit of “banter” with the English players. With Australia going into the game in not the greatest form, will Luai’s style upset their apple cart in attack, and their patience in general.
Nathan Cleary was hammered on social media a little after Australia’s narrow win over New Zealand, with obviously high expectations not being met. He is a victim of the rotation of the Australian team, which we have mentioned previously. If Mal Meninga thought Cleary was the man of the future then he should have started game one to allow the combinations to work. As it is Australia have looked ordinary and Cleary is wearing the blame. But Penrith haven’t two title in a row for no reason and Cleary will step we’re sure. Or face some Luai lip we figure.
It can’t be all Penrith though, and Cameron Munster is due a big game too, having been a little quiet for his standard.
Also like to mention the immense job Chanel Harris-Tavita did last game, coming on at hookr early and doing a stellar job all game. Eventually topping the tackle count against England. He has been an underrated contributor to Samoa.
Australia v Samoa RLWC2021 Stats So Far
AVERAGE TEAM STATS PER GAME
AVERAGE PLAYER STATS PER GAME
