Australia are through to the 2017 World Cup semi-finals after smashing Samoa 46-0 in front of a sold out Darwin crowd.
In the first-ever Test match held in the Northern Territory, the Kangaroos put on a near faultless display and winger Valentine Holmes made history after crossing five times. Michael Morgan got a brace and Billy Slater picked up a try, equaling Jarryd Hayne’s all-time World Cup record of 14 tries.
Australia ran out to a 30-0 lead at half-time and were never headed. Eight tries in all flowed against a poor Samoan side in the quarter-final. The Pacific nation has had a dismal World Cup where they have failed to notch a single victory. They are headed home while the Aussies will face either New Zealand or Fiji next in the semi-finals at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. Samoa seem to have gone backwards, after an impressive 2015 Four Nations, while Tonga are on the improve.
On a warm and humid Darwin night, Cameron Smith also made history when he joined Bob Fulton on the record of the most World Cup appearances for Australia with 15. Smith missed one conversion all evening in another peerless display for his country. With threats from one to 17, the Kangaroos are on track for another World Cup final appearance.
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga praised the haul of Holmes.
“Five tries is fantastic,” he said.
“He put himself in that position. He runs hard every time he gets an opportunity, his support play was really good, he got highly involved so he deserved it. He deserved the reward that he gets by putting in all that effort.”
Meninga was particularly pleased with the attitude of his team.
“I’m very happy defensively once again, holding them to 0, which is fantastic,” he said.
“I’m happy the players the way they mix and the way they support each other. Certainly in the game that shows. It was tough out there, the conditions were pretty tough, but they kept on hanging in there. I just wanted us to complete and get to the end of the sets. In these conditions we had to do it and we did it. It’s all positive at this stage. We want to improve every week.”
Samoa coach Matt Parish described his team’s display was “pretty disappointing”.
“Again lots of effort but just not one of our better performances once again,” he said.
“It’s been probably the story of our World Cup. Too many mistakes, in the first half they had 21 sets, we had 11. You can’t give anyone that much ball, let alone them.
“Unfortunately our performances on the field didn’t reflect probably the way that we’ve trained and the way that we’ve carried ourselves as a team. The boys have done a great job the way they’ve represented Samoa. The results haven’t gone our way. Our performances haven’t probably been as good as what we’d we hoped but there’s lots of effort there, lots of respect.”
Ask if any nation can beat Australia at this World Cup, Parish replied: “You need to go with them. Their kicking game’s phenomenal. I’ll be cheering for Tonga.”
