The Rugby League World Cup ignited over the weekend as the best players in the world produced a scintillating spectacle full of power, skill and raw emotion.
England’s dream remains very much alive after Shaun Wane’s side produced the finest half hour of rugby league in the nation’s recent history, while a fast-maturing Samoa stunned Tonga to set up a grudge rematch in a mouth-watering Emirates Stadium semi-final on Saturday.
It’s not a grudge match for most of the players of course, although Samoa’s historic first ever semi-final appearance will be powered by a hunger to right the wrongs of their opening-day 60-6 thumping by Shaun Wane’s side.
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The prickliness has come from Samoa’s head coach Matt Parish, not the warmest engager with the sport’s press at the best of times, and clearly stung by the reporting of his side’s capitulation at St James’ Park four weeks ago.
Samoa’s win over Tonga on Sunday was a display of the very best of rugby league, on and off the field.
The contest was electric, the hits brutal, the speed and skill of some of the NRL’s top stars breathtaking. And the camaraderie, community, unity, the goosebump-triggering, spine-tingling emotion of the pre-match Sipi Tau versus Siva Tau utterly providing unforgettably once-in-a-lifetime experiences for so many inside the stadium.
Samoa’s win was impressive and deserved, Parish’s side now showcasing the star talents we knew they would bring to this tournament but that were so anonymous in Newcastle. And that is what has bruised Parish, or more so the perceived unfair reporting of his squad’s journey.
“This tournament was never about the first game, it's about the last game. You guys made it about the first game,” was his shot at journalists following the epic Tonga win.
And the press conference did not warm up from there. Indeed Samoa’s jubilant players all left the ground on Sunday night without speaking to the waiting media. Last week, following their final group win over France, Parish asked journalists if they were planning to ‘write the truth this week’.
He is a divisive coach who, much like Brian McDermott in the British game, outwardly cares little about criticism that comes his way, yet at the same time is quietly fired up by it. He has created a siege mentality with a very, very dangerous set of Samoa players and will require very little by way of a semi-final teamtalk at Arsenal on Saturday.
England will be facing the Samoa side in a World Cup semi-final that they thought they would be facing on day one in the north east. And an even more fired up version of it.
But that won’t ruffle Shaun Wane’s feathers. The hard-to-please England head coach was very pleased with his squad’s first-half dismantling of Papua New Guinea to book their place. In fact the one thing leaving Wane annoyed from Saturday’s win was that he didn’t manage to speak to the Princess of Wales while his players did.
“I’m gutted about that, I thought they might have organised that!,” he said.
Everything else went Wane’s way though, from the lightbulb moment to recruit UFC fighter Tom Aspinall as a tackling coach during the week to the triumph of taking £60 off winger Tommy Makinson in the team hotel the night before, Wane was on to a winner.
His team were flawless for half an hour, with Makinson grabbing some of his credit back with a record five-try display.
So should we get excited yet? Well why not. This is a brilliant England team. But write off Samoa at your peril. This is a completely different beast to what we saw a few weeks ago. And it is a very dangerous one.
World Cup organisers were purring at the England and Samoa games, which brought big crowds, intense atmospheres, great results and a royal seal of approval.
And in the other side of the draw a sigh of relief to see the blockbuster Australia versus New Zealand semi-final that most were hoping for. As Josh Addo-Carr fired the Kangaroos to a Lebanon cruise, the Kiwis were given an almighty scare before rescuing it against an unfortunate Fiji late on.
Seeing the two Southern Hemisphere superpowers meet before the final means England have come in from a pre-tournament fifth favourites, to second favourites to win the big one.
With England’s women flying through their group and the wheelchair boys showcasing the best of their sport to an unprecedented audience, this tournament has now caught fire.
Time to dream?
As our friend Rob Burrow tells us, in a world full of adversity we must dare to dream.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
