London: The Englishman at the centre of the tackle that could scratch Junior Paulo from the World Cup final against Australia has declared “there was nothing in it”.
Paulo was binned for tip-tackling Tom Burgess during Samoa’s historic upset win over England on Sunday morning AEDT.
Samoa’s skipper was put on report and is expected to be charged by the match review committee, but Burgess went into bat for his rival.
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“He should definitely play the final, there was nothing in it,” Burgess told foxsports.com.au.
“It was just the way the tackle went, I arrested the position, he should not miss a week for that, no way. I was fine.”
Samoan forward Royce Hunt was also involved in the tackle and also told foxsports.com.au he doesn’t think his captain should miss the final.
“Me and Junior both went low, one of us should have gone high but that’s rugby league, stuff happens,” Hunt said.
“But big Tom was all right and hopefully nothing comes out of it.”
Burgess and Hunt’s support echoed the sentiment from both coaches, with England’s Shaun Wane and Samoa’s Matt Parish agreeing Paulo should be free to face the Kangaroos.
“Clearly he let go,” Parish said.
“Obviously it was a dangerous position but he let go. Royce (Hunt) was in the tackle too, he obviously paid some contribution to it.
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“They didn’t go through with it, they didn’t drive him, they let him go, they placed him on the ground.
“Burgess got up and it was a penalty, and moved on. I couldn’t see him missing the final over that.”
Paulo was initially set to miss the semi-final against England after he was suspended for striking in the quarter-final, but he successfully had the ban overturned.
The 28-year-old was surprised to be binned over the first-half incident and expects he’ll be playing in his country’s “biggest game in history”.
“Just how important this game is, to us and our people, I can’t imagine myself missing out on what is probably the biggest game in Samoa’s history,” Paulo said.
“To do what we’ve done is overwhelming but the journey continues… I’ll enjoy the moment tonight but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
