Samoa coach Matt Parish has silenced the critics and paid tribute to his players after his side’s upset 27-26 win over England to advance to a first ever World Cup final.
Samoa were slammed after their 60-6 loss to England in the tournament opener, but they had the last laugh beating the hosts when it mattered in a semi-final golden point thriller.
“Inspirational and passionate, that’s what this team is all about,” Parish said post match.
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SAMOA win extra time epic to make FINAL! | 01:45
“Passion and pride. It is an unbelievable effort from these guys.
“We have had our critics. A few things have gone against us. Five guys have gone home. We are down to the bare bones.
“These guys keep turning up for each other. They have got each others’ back.
“Plenty of people had plenty to say four weeks ago about going on planes home and all that.
“But the pride and belief and passion in this group is just phenomenal.”
Parish was in awe of his team after a historic night in London as Samoa turned the rugby league world on its head.
“I think it is incredible how much support Samoa had over here,” Parish said.
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“I think the strategy with these guys was they never gave up.
“They have got belief in what we are all about.
“I take my hat off to a large number of our squad, particularly these two (Junior Paulo and Jarome Luai) right beside me.
“They had a grand final seven weeks ago, but we still asked these guys to turn up and play with effort and play world class games.
“We are obviously going against a world class team next week.
“It was inspirational. To put Samoa in the World Cup final, the tiny little dot in the middle of the pacific is just incredible.”
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Samoa five-eighth Jarome Luai also took aim at the doubters after Samoa’s horror start to the tournament and believes his team can go all the way.
“What we need to focus on is the same thing we have focused on every week,” Luai said.
“We have got a great team and a lot of talent within our side, but footy is a simple game and if you are not completing high then it is going to be pretty tough to win games, so that is what our main focus is with every game and it is going to need to be again this week.
“It has got us this far. Not many people did believe in us, but within our group there is plenty of that, so we are always going to believe that we can shake the comp up and we are here right now, so why not win the Cup?”
