Australia Reach Final as Samoa Fume Over Referee Decisions

Australia beat Samoa 44-12 and are one win away from their 13th men's rugby league World Cup title. The Kangaroos will face New Zealand in the final in Brisbane on 15 November. If Australia win, they will claim their fourth straight title and will have won 10 of the last 11 World Cups they have played since 1975.

In the first minutes, Samoa took a 2-0 lead through a penalty by Crichton in the fifth minute. In the eighth minute, Tom Dearden's converted try put Australia 6-2 ahead. Jacob Preston scored a try in the 14th minute and Tom Trbojevic scored in the 25th. Walsh scored his second try of the first half in the 32nd minute, and Bradman Best also contributed to the score in the 37th minute. Australia went into halftime 26-2 ahead. Walsh was going for a hat-trick in the first half after Samoa's disallowed try.

At the start of the second half, a mistake by Walsh allowed Stephen Crichton to score a try for Samoa in the 44th minute. Walsh took advantage of an error by Ronald Volkman to score his second try in the 47th minute. Izack Tago scored from the left corner in the 61st minute, bringing Samoa to 12. Walsh completed a hat-trick with his third try in the 66th minute, making it 38-12. Jack Bostock extended the lead further with a try down the left side in the 72nd minute.

Samoa also had a try disallowed during the match. The decision, made after contact between Francis Manuleleua and Liam Martin, angered Samoa once again. Spencer Leniu was temporarily sent off for arguing with referee Adam Gee. New Zealand had reached the final by beating Tonga 34-10 in the semi-final.