Australia vs Samoa – 2021 Men’s Rugby League World Cup Final Preview

Australia look to further their world domination against a Samoan side seeking to create even more history.

At roughly 18:00 on Saturday night, one of these two great rugby league nations will be crowned the 2021 RLWC champions in front of a packed-out Old Trafford. This would be a first for Samoa or a 12^th for Australia. The famous stadium located in Manchester has hosted two previous finals, both of which were won by the Kangaroos.

The tie follows the final of the women’s tournament which is being played a few hours prior at the same ground. After England’s failure to reach the final in both the men’s and women’s tournaments, Old Trafford is not expected to sell out. However, the host nation will not disappoint as a large crowd of passionate rugby league fans will be there to cheer the two sides on.

Plenty of Samoan’s and Australian’s are also expected to be inside the ground, so the atmosphere should be electric. But we’re sure most people will just be hoping for a fantastic game of rugby league.

The two sides have met only three times before, with Australia winning all of those matches, scoring 156 points in the process whilst only conceding 28. However, since their last meeting in the quarter final of the 2017 World Cup, Samoa have improved massively with a whole host of new talent. Therefore, on paper Saturday’s game should be a much closer contest than the previous three.

So far, this famous competition has not disappointed. Following last weekend’s epic semi-finals, the anticipation has been building rapidly for Saturday’s fixture. Furthermore, the official team of the tournament features four Australian players and five of Samoa’s squad. So, let’s take a closer look at the two teams.

 

Australia

The kangaroos were always the tournament favourites, despite falling from the top of the world rankings. They have been world dominant throughout their history having featured in 11 of the 12 World Cup finals, whilst leaving victorious in 11 of the 15 World Cup’s.

In three of the 15 World Cup’s, there was no final due to a different tournament format. However, Australia have either won the competition, or come second in every edition bar the first one back in 1954. The Kangaroos hold the records for the most competition victories, the most single match victories and the largest final victory, making them a daunting task for Samoa.

Australia had obliterated the opposition in every game up to the semi-final. Defeats of Fiji, Scotland, Italy and Lebanon by a healthy margin made them look untouchable. However, they were only able to narrowly squeeze past New Zealand in their 5^th game which will give Samoa hope.

Their squad is stacked with world class players, from their dazzling captain and full back James Tedesco, to their strong ball playing loose forward Isaah Yeo. Their player to watch on the day will be Penrith Panthers half back Nathan Cleary. Having recently led his club to NRL glory, he’ll be hoping he can take the next step in filling the boots of the Kangaroo legend Jonathon Thurston.

Also, watch out for Australia’s flying winger Josh Addo-Carr. The speedster has scored 12 tries so far in the competition and is looking in incredible form. He is only one try away from breaking the record for the most tries scored in a single tournament having already equalled it. He is also only four tries away from equalling the record for the most tries ever in World Cup history.

 

Samoa

Samoa is the first new nation into a World Cup final in 34 years. In a sport that has recently been dominated by three big teams, it makes great viewing for rugby league fans to see them there. Nevertheless, they won’t just be there to take part, they’ll be confident that they can be the fourth nation to lift the trophy.

On the day they will most likely be the fan favourites, having nearly the whole stadium on their side should help their pursuit to create history. Before this year’s competition they had never made in past the quarter-final stage, but this year they are a completely different side. They have a roster full of star players from the NRL and are littered with talent. So much so that they managed to pull off an excellent upset victory over the tournament hosts in the semi-final last weekend.

Samoa had big expectations coming into the World Cup, having recently managed to acquire some star players into their ranks, who chose to play for their native country rather than Australia or New Zealand. However, their tournament got off to a horrible start when they were thumped by England on the opening day. Since then, they haven’t looked back, comfortably seeing off Greece and France to finish second in the group stage, before narrowly beating Tonga and England in two excellent knockout matches.

Jarome Luai is their player to watch, and the Samoan’s will turn to him for leadership on Saturday. Cleary’s halfback partner at Penrith Panthers, he has occasionally been slated for his performance and attitude, however, he has always come back with an answer of his own to silence the critics. He has guided his team swiftly through this tournament after a poor first game, and his skill level has been on show for the world to see.

Stephen Crichton is their leading points scorer with a total of 67 from five appearances. It was he who was the hero in their golden point victory over England last weekend. To finish the tournament as the top point scorer, the powerful centre just needs two more of his own, whilst also hoping that Cleary doesn’t outscore him.

Now you know much more about these two nations and what we’re all in store for this weekend. Saturday will not disappoint no matter the outcome, we should get to see an exciting game of rugby league, rounding off an excellent tournament.

The match will be live on BBC, with kick-off at 16:00.

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