Stephen Crichton slotted a field goal in golden point to create history at the Rugby League World Cup, booking Samoa into their first final and knocking England out of the tournament in London on Sunday morning.
In the match of the tournament, Crichton came up with two huge plays in the dying stages of the game to seal Samoa’s spot in next week’s World Cup final against Australia at Old Trafford.
Samoa celebrates as England are crushed.Credit:
Cometh the hour, cometh the intercept king. A year on from breaking the hearts of South Sydney with a premiership-winning intercept in the NRL grand final, Crichton produced a similar play in regular time when he latched on to a Victor Radley pass to streak away with 7 minutes remaining.
It appeared Samoa had done enough to win the game at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, only for George Williams to get around Jaydn Su’A and put Herbie Farnworth over to take the game into golden point.
While Anthony Milford’s first attempt for Samoa was charged down, Crichton had no such issues – slotting over his field goal from about 30 metres out to send Samoa into raptures.
The tiny Pacific island of Samoa, at about 5.30am local time, kicked off the party of all parties. It’s the first time a team from outside of Australia, New Zealand, England and Great Britain has qualified for the Rugby League World Cup final since France in 1968.
Stephen Crichton touches down for their team’s fifth try.Credit:
Samoa, inspired by the man-of-the-match performance from Jarome Luai, becomes just the sixth team (Australia, New Zealand, England, Great Britain and France) to reach the final of the tournament.
A month after they were humiliated 60-6 by England in the opening game of the tournament, Samoa responded in incredible fashion in front of a crowd of 40,489 in London.
They could head to the final without inspirational skipper Junior Paulo, who was sin-binned and put on report for a dangerous lifting tackle on England’s Thomas Burgess.
It comes a week after he escaped a one-game ban for dangerous contact in the quarter-final win over Tonga.
It was a horror opening to the afternoon for the Samoans with Joseph Suaalii’s kick off sailing over the sideline on the full, although it didn’t prove costly.
The Samoans registered first points of the match when Tim Lafai strolled past English centre counterpart Kallum Watkins to give his side an early 4-0 lead.
Paulo’s sin-binning soon after was compounded by a sickening head collision between Samoan teammates Oregon Kaufusi and Fa’amanu Brown which brought about a premature end to their afternoons.
The Samoans did well to hold out England while down to 12 men, but moments after Paulo returned to the paddock English halfback George Williams busted past Royce Hunt to link up with former Canberra teammate Elliott Whitehead for the home side’s first try of the game.
England’s lead was shortlived, paying the price for a lapse of concentration that allowed Ligi Sao to dart down the blind side from hooker and slide over for a 10-6 lead at half-time.
The English needed a fast start in the second half and they got that courtesy of a costly Tim Lafai fumble. The former Canterbury and St George Illawarra centre coughed up a Williams chip kick, gifting John Bateman the easiest of four-pointers.
With Samoa’s backs to the wall, Jarome Luai used his dazzling footwork to leave England defenders clutching at thin air. Luai managed to find Paulo, who produced a remarkable offload back to the five-eighth, to help set up one of the tries of the tournament.
Luai was in everything, including Samoa’s next try. The Panthers No.6 stepped on the inside of rushing Knights winger Dominic Young, throwing the pass to send Lafai over for his second of the afternoon and a 20-12 lead.
Tempers began to flare when Luai and Sam Tomkins exchanged words, igniting an all-in brawl between the two teams.
It brought a rather subdued home crowd up until that point into the contest, spurring England centre Herbie Farnworth over the line to reduce the deficit to just two points with 15 minutes remaining.
A contentious penalty against Paulo for pushing Tomkins after kicking the ball saw the game locked up at 20-20 with 12 minutes on the clock. The Samoans used their captain’s challenge but it was to no avail.
Crichton’s intercept, followed by Farnworth’s try, sent the game into golden point where Crichton stood up to seal the victory.
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