It’s locked in. Australia will take on New Zealand in next Sunday’s World Cup final, a repeat of the epic thriller which kicked off the tournament.
The Kangaroos were clinical against an ill-disciplined Samoa, with Kevin Walters vindicated after a couple of massive selection calls.
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Meanwhile, New Zealand flexed their muscles in the semi-final against Tonga, proving they should be given every chance to end Australia’s World Cup reign.
Read on for all of the World Cup talking points!
KEVVIE PULLS RIGHT REIN WITH BIG SELECTION CALLS
He won’t admit it but you get the sense Kevin Walters would be feeling pretty vindicated after his huge selection calls this week paid off.
Following last week’s thrashing of the Cook Islands, Walters didn’t change his spine for the clash with Samoa, electing to retain Tom Dearden and Reece Walsh over the premiership winning pair of James Tedesco and Sam Walker.
While it wasn’t overly controversial, it was a decision which led to some raised eyebrows.
Leaving the likes of Tedesco and Walker out isn’t easy to do as Walters conceded, but he pulled the right rein.
Dearden and Walsh were arguably the two best players on the field in Australia’s 44-12 thumping.
Dearden, a Wally Lewis Medal winner, showed his class early and set the tone with a terrific solo try to score the game’s opener.
His ballplaying was elite and he played direct. Samoa struggled to react as it opened up running lanes for the Dearden’s outside men.
“I think that’s when Tommy’s looking his best. He’s, you know, engaging the line taking that that carry first think and run first,” Kangaroos hooker Harry Grant said.
“He’s a real direct competitor. He wants to be in the game. And that’s why I love playing with him.
“He brings so much competitiveness to his game and you’ve seen that with the first touch of the ball there off the scrum.”
The halfback will be wearing the No. 7 next Sunday barring catastrophe during the week.
In a scary sign for the Kiwis, Dearden spoke about how beneficial it was to have a second consecutive game playing with the same combinations.
Given the chopping and changing in the group stage, Australia haven’t had a set line up until now.
“I think it was just good to have some rhythm to our game and we completed high. And when we do that and we get our defence right, we’ve got the skill,” Dearden said.
“You look at Walshy and Harry (Grant) and Munny (Cam Munster) and what they did tonight.
“All we’ve got to do is complete high and we give all our ball players a lot of opportunities.
“We were in rhythm and the way we clicked I thought was a whole lot better. We were more clinical with the ball and moving a lot better with defensively as well.
“We want to build and get better each game, and we come up against a really strong and great New Zealand team next week.”
One player who benefited greatly outside of Dearden was Walsh.
The electric fullback was outstanding, scoring a hat trick and setting up another try.
He also had two line break assists, six tackle busts and 96 metres.
Despite Tedesco waiting in the wings, the flashy No. 1 has all but locked up the starting fullback role for next Sunday’s blockbuster.
HAVE THE KIWIS TAKEN OVER AUSSIES
Is New Zealand the most complete side of this year’s World Cup and will they be favourites to topple big brother Australia in the final next week at Suncorp Stadium?
The Kiwis were better than Australia in the opening game but the Kangaroos came away with a win thanks to a couple of intercept tries and flashes of brilliance, but they got a little lucky that night.
The Kiwis were clinical against undefeated Tonga on Saturday night, winning 34-10, and they were in second gear for the final 15 minutes of that match, toying with Tonga with the help of a gale-force wind at their back.
The forward pack is amazingly strong and Jahrome Hughes proved he was classy enough to play off the back of his big men while Kalyn Ponga returned from a broken arm to win Player of the Match.
Young gun Casey McLean was dangerous while his veteran centre partner Dane Gagai was in Origin mode.
So are there any weaknesses in this Kiwi squad?
Roosters premiership-winning coach Trent Robinson couldn’t find one after watching the Kiwis beat Tonga.
“They cover all parts of the game. They got physical to start the game. Their middle forwards in defence rushed off the line. They were really physical,” Robinson said.
“Tonga had to move it early, then they (New Zealand) have the class of an offload in their game.
“They have all parts of the game covered for next week.”
Robinson praised the game management of Hughes, who steered the team around the park in a calm way.
They could have, mentally, lost their way and pushed the issue a little after dominating the start of the match only to find themselves behind after Jojo Fifita’s try in the 33rd minute.
But Hughes kept his cool and it rubbed off on his teammates.
“The precision of Jahrome Hughes tonight, he’s been the major difference. He has outplayed his opposition half and he has been outstanding on that right hand side of the field and allowed Ponga space to play,” Robinson said.
“The thing I love about the way that they’ve been playing is that they’ve got lots of patience.
“They’ve been setting up through their middle forwards with Erin Clark owning the middle, playing lead lines, and then they’ve just been really patient on their shifts. It’s been such a clinical performance from New Zealand.
“I think they’re the form team of the competition. I think they proved that again tonight.”
Robinson has also put the heat on Australia.
He said they really need to improve or it could be another World Cup final loss to New Zealand in Brisbane after they stunned the Aussies in 2008.
“Australia needs to play better. They have been the best team year after year after year, but they haven’t had the best tournament,” Robinson said.
“New Zealand, on that performance tonight, they will go in favourites next weekend.”
Three-time premiership winner Luke Keary agreed with his former coach and said the Aussies will be the underdogs on Sunday night.
“I think the Kiwis will be the favourites. I think they’ve been the most impressive side throughout this tournament,” Keary said.
“Obviously Australia got them on the opening night there at Allianz Stadium, but since then, boy, they’ve just been damaging.”
Keary also explained why the New Zealand outfit was perfectly balanced.
“Trent Robinson explained it really nicely, they’re just so physical through the middle of the field, but then they have the skill and the speed out wide to capitalise on the smarts of Jahrome Hughes,” Keary said.
“He hasn’t had his greatest NRL season, but in the game tonight, that’s as good as I’ve seen him play all year. He just controlled it beautifully.”
Former England Test star James Graham thinks the Kangaroos will be facing a forward pack that will expect itself to bulldoze the Aussies.
“They’ve got a forward pack that cannot just compete, but dominate (Australia). They’ve got outside backs that can finish and they’ve got the spine as well now that can take them to the next level,” he said.
New Zealand first into World Cup Final! | 03:25
MOST ‘DISAPPOINTING’ PART OF SAMOA’S IMPLOSION
The pre-game scenes were described as the “greatest sporting theatre ever”.
It set the tone for what could have been a World Cup epic. Instead, Samoa just could not harness its emotions as Ben Gardiner’s side lost its way.
There was no better example than Spencer Leniu.
While Parramatta have signed Leniu onto the kind of contract that suggests he will play big minutes as a key part of its front row rotation, the two-time premiership winner has typically performed at his best in small spurts.
Both the Panthers and Roosters are among the most professional organisations in the NRL, but even they at times struggled to find the right balance with the unpredictable Leniu.
On Sunday night, he got it all wrong as an error-prone and ill-disciplined showing ended up with Leniu spending time in the sin bin for dissent.
“He’s such an inspirational player. He can have such a positive impact on the side with the way he plays the game. But he got this one wrong,” Shaun Johnson said on Channel 7.
“No player can approach a ref unless you’re the skipper. But not in this manner whatsoever. You can’t condone that sort of behaviour and he’ll be disappointed in himself.”
It wasn’t just Leniu either. Jarome Luai came up with a few poor errors and was consistently under the microscope of referee Adam Gee, conceding two penalties and one set restart.
Ronald Volkman, meanwhile, gave away a penalty for a cheap shot on Jacob Preston which Roosters coach Trent Robinson said was “the story of the night” for Samoa.
“Just taking a little bit too far on discipline,” he added.
“They had such an opportunity tonight and they’ve ruined it with ill-discipline.”
In general, it was an impatient showing from a Samoa team that desperately needed its leaders to stand up but instead the very players who should have shown the way were the ones making costly mistakes.
“The disappointing thing about it is it’s the leaders of the team that are making these little mistakes,” former NRL fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen said.
“What I didn’t really like was when they got into the huddle, the guys that were making the mistakes were the ones talking. Don’t do any talking. Come out and show it with your actions.
“It needs to be something to change in the second half. And I think it starts with that.”
Johnson, meanwhile, credited the Kangaroos for playing a brand of rugby league that pressured Samoa into mistakes.
“They’re not able to control their emotions at the moment,” he added.
“Their energy is being put into the wrong places and when you get that, you bounce off tackles, you get people starting to try and make up for it.”
“He doesn’t feel like this is fair odds” | 00:27
REALITY CHECK FOR TONGA AND GUN HALF
Tonga and their top halfback Isaiya Katoa arrived in Newcastle on Saturday thinking they were a hot chance to make their first World Cup final, but New Zealand showed them they were not quite ready to take that next step.
The 34-10 win was made more comfortable thanks to a howling gale that was at the New Zealand players’ backs, but the more experienced Jahrome Hughes gave the rising Katoa a lesson in game management.
The Dolphins halfback is the hottest young playmaker in the game but he’s yet to really stand out and star in a big game yet and at times has failed to take opportunities to win matches.
One of the best examples of this was when he was playing for the Dolphins against Penrith in July 2024.
With the teams locked at 24-all with a minute to go, he had the ball in front of the posts and instead of kicking an easy field goal, he kicked to the corner post.
Minutes later Nathan Cleary booted a 43m Golden Point winner.
To be fair, he was playing injured on Saturday night as he battled an ankle issue that had been plaguing him all tournament.
Roosters premiership-winning coach Trent Robinson said a lack of polish in Katoa’s department hurt Tonga’s chances of winning.
“They’ve just lacked precision on the end of their sets,” Robinson said.
“Into the wind, they needed to have a little bit better plan, better precision on their kicks because then when the wind’s that way, you must compete on every one of those kicks in the air, and they’ve let too many of them bounce, or they haven’t been deep enough into the wind.”
Katoa, his own toughest critic, took the blame for the poor second half, saying he didn’t adapt to the conditions on the run.
“Just the way they played their footy tonight is the way you play in these types of conditions. And it’s a lesson that I’ll take and I’ll cop that on the chest there,” he said.
“Just the way I controlled the second half was just not good enough and not up to international standard.”
It’s hard to be too tough on Katoa.
He’s only 22 and history says he’s still got five more seasons until he reaches his peak years, but he’ll no doubt want to lead the Dolphins and Tonga to some big wins in 2027.
Tonga coach Kristian Woolf said his team has still come a long way in this World Cup but said they weren’t far off winning the tournament.
“Once upon a time we were happy just to be in the finals and be competitive and now we see ourselves as real players and we believe we can win it. We just haven’t been able to produce that tonight,” Woolfe said.
“Everyone knows there’s a bit of a missed opportunity with what the group’s been able to do and how talented the group is,” skipper Jason Taumalolo added.
Samoa made the 2021 final and Tonga were just one game off this time around.
Could we see the two nations one day face off in the big one?
Organisers wouldn’t be able to find a stadium big enough for the match.
Kiwis beat Tonga in hard-won semi final | 03:17
TONGA AND SAMOA ARE THE REAL GAME GROWERS
It’s expected that the game will try to take the next World Cup to the United States with Hawaii and Utah earmarked as host cities.
And let’s face it – it’s all due to the rise of Tonga and Samoa on the international stage.
Who would have thought 10 years ago that two pint-sized nations in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, with a combined population of less than 310,000 people, would be the reason the World Cup is set to be hosted in America?
Tonga coach Kristian Woolf was asked about a possible World Cup in America in 2030 after his team’s loss to New Zealand on Saturday night.
“It’s exciting, it’s a long way away too but it’s obviously exciting that the international game’s got such a great opportunity to grow and reach different people,” Woolfe said.
“I know that if you talk about those places in America, Utah and Hawaii, there’s a massive group there of Tonga and Samoa people as well so I think our support would be outstanding.
“The majority of the fans in here tonight were our fans as well and it’s outstanding what those two nations have brought to the game and the interest they’ve brought.”
Let’s hope for the next World Cup that all players will be paid the same.
The Australians are getting $40,000 each to play at this year’s edition while players from teams like Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji are getting just $850 per game.
It wasn’t fair before this tournament started, but how would it go down if it’s the same in four years’ time given it will be Tonga and Samoa who are responsible for the venture into America.
It has nothing to do with traditional powerhouses Australia, New Zealand and England.
“Tonga and Samoa have been at the forefront of that (growth) and look at the interest and the crowd and everything about last week. The atmosphere and what that game created, that’s on the back of Tonga and Samoa,” Woolf said.
“While we’re competitive then obviously that really grows the international game, and the excitement around the international game, so it’s been great to be a part of and certainly a movement that was started by Jason in terms of his commitment in 2017 and the sacrifice that he made and he deserves a lot of accolades for it.”
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