Following on from their nightmare start to the Rugby League World Cup, Toa Samoa has earned a rematch with England with a 20-18 win over Mate Ma’a Tonga.
If you’d stayed up or set an alarm, the prematch exchange cleared the sleep from the eyes and got the heart racing ahead of a brutal 80 minutes of rugby league.
Siliva Havili’s return for Tonga became noticeable in the early exchanges. They had lacked direction at times in the opening two matches and Havili’s direct service sent his team up the field through the middle.
Samoa will have noticed Isaiya Katoa’s name on the Tonga team sheet before kickoff, too. The 18-year-old has impressed throughout the Rugby League World Cup but the expectation was for the more experienced Talatau Amone to start at the pointy end of the tournament. Where Katoa has struggled is in defence and Anthony Milford found him in Samoa’s very first opportunity in attack.
Samoa’s lead didn’t last long, though. Joseph Sua’ali’i involved himself early, but his overzealous carry ended with a penalty for leading with his knee. Will Hopoate is another new name on the team list and you can see why Kristian Woolf was so eager to add him for the biggest game of the tournament so far. While Tolutau Koula and Tesi Niu both performed well, Hopoate has a pass on the edge that the other two don’t throw quite as well.
Having just allowed a try through his side, Katoa dug into the line before releasing the ball for Hopoate to throw a floater for Daniel Tupou in the corner.
A Tupou error capped off an ill-disciplined ten minutes after points for Tonga. Samoa crashed the middle and tired out the Tongan pack with Jarome Luai on hand to capitalise. Will Penesini jammed in on Luai but couldn’t stick to the tackle. As the covering defence scrambled across the field, the middle didn’t follow quickly enough which allowed Luai to skip through to score.
Neither side had any trouble getting up the field. There was no shortage of players willing to take the tough carry up the middle. It’s the error count that defined the opening 20 minutes as Tonga’s four stood out against Samoa’s squeaky-clean first quarter.
Tonga’s sixth error provided Samoa with another full set attacking in good ball. A six again infringement extended their time with the ball. However, the defensive line held firm at a crucial period of the game.
Samoa matched Tonga’s error count with offloads as they repeatedly created a second phase in yardage. Forcing the defence back and forward, up and down, they worked hard to promote fatigue in middle of the Tongan defence.
It took a Samoa penalty to turn the game. The free passage up the field translated into a six again infringement, forced dropout, and Siosiua Taukeiaho try in the 33rd minute. Soni Luke rolled one into a tiny in goal area for Taukeiaho to collect and where it looked like Samoa might go 18-4 in front only four minutes earlier, Tonga cut the deficit to 12-10.
Given the periods of dominance Samoa played with in the first half, Tonga will have been pleased to be only two points behind at the break.
If Woolf talked about keeping hold of the ball at halftime his Tonga side didn’t listen. Another poor offload to ground in their first set and a dropped ball on an early second-tackle shift on the following set saw the second half start much like the first. This time, however, Tonga held their line and introduced David Fifita to the match in search of points.
Tonga found two to level the scores in the 50th minute as Milford was caught offside while jamming in on his soon-to-be Dolphins teammate.
Backed up by the best defensive set of the game so far, Tonga started to assert themselves. For a second, it felt as though they would start to wear Samoa down. However, a penalty invited Stephen Crichton to the kicking tee for Samoa to retake the lead in the 57th minute.
It wasn’t long before Crichton lined up another shot at goal following a Brian To’o try. Milford hung one up for his winger but as Tonga put more of a focus on escorting players off the ball than defusing the bomb, the ball bounced for To’o and an eight-point Samoa lead. It’s a barnstorming Sua’ali’i carry that put Milford in position to put in the attacking kick.
Tonga needed an answer eight points behind going into the final 20 minutes. Taumalolo led from the front with a superb carry followed by a dangerous short ball to Addin Fonua-Blake. However, Milford’s block and regather of a Tui Lolohea grubber released the pressure and forced Tonga to do all of the hard work in getting up the field again.
They made it look easy in the end. Koloamatangi repeated Milford’s efforts earlier to collect a fifth-tackle grubber and take the easy metres up the field. From there, Moses Suli picked out two tired forwards behind the ruck and threw a lovely pass to Sione Katoa pushing up in support.
Samoa’s rushing right side defence produced an error before Junior Paulo’s bumper-bar carry produced the penalty Tonga needed to get up the field inside the last two minutes. A silly six again infringement extended Tonga’s time in good ball but their lack of quality in key playmaking positions cost them late. With ample opportunity to find the winner, Tonga couldn’t organise themselves to throw one last punch. Fittingly, their final set of the match ended with a hopeful Lolohea grubber straight into the shins of a Samoan defender.
Tonga burst onto the international rugby league scene via their monster forward pack but Samoa’s quality in the spine proved to be the difference in this one. Matching Tonga in the middle, Milford, Luai and Sua’ali’i produced the plays with the ball to secure the 20-18 win and book a place in their first-ever Rugby League World Cup semi final.
Key Takeaways
Anthony Milford
We’ve seen a couple of these Anthony Milford games throughout the year. The sort that have you thinking the 28-year-old may yet get back to his best.
He threw a peach of a pass early to open the scoring and looked dangerous with the ball in general. Defensively, Tonga asked questions but Milford had the answers. The footwork is still there and his effort in defence was a particular highlight.
After mentioning Chanel Harris-Tavita as a preferred partner for Luai last week, Milford left pie on my face with a Man of the Match performance in this one.
Tonga’s halves
As Keaon Koloamatangi kicked from his own 40-metre line in the 69th minute there became little doubt that Samoa’s halves had outplayed their opposites. Tonga has plenty of points in them but lacked the organisation to challenge the Samoan defensive line consistently.
The final set of the match summed up their limitations and lack of creativity as they fired only one shot wide before resorting to a grubber on the 4th tackle. Lolohea pointed and passed his players to spots but couldn’t back those setup plays with a dangerous attacking action.
There is hope for the future. Katoa is a clear talent and could wear the red #7 jersey for the next decade. It won’t be a surprise to see Talatau Amone there with him in the #6 for just as long. Today, however, it’s an area Samoa outplayed them and it proved to be the difference.
Rugby League World Cup Quarter Final Results
Australia 48 def. Lebanon 4
England 46 def. Papua New Guinea 6
Samoa 20 def. Tonga 18