Hammer's magic moment as Kangaroos destroy Samoa, Storm's star ...
Australia have crushed Samoa 38-12 in their World Cup final rematch as debutants from both sides starred in Townsville on Saturday night.
The Kangaroos scored four tries in the opening 15 minutes before the visitors stopped the onslaught, with Samoan debutant Sualauvi Faalogo establishing himself as a star of the future.
MATCH CENTRE: Australia v Samoa, teams, stats, video
It was a red-hot start for the hosts despite Payne Haas dropping the ball on his second hit-up of the match as the superstar prop quickly made up for it by scoring the opening try in the fifth minute.
Haas ran a hard line off lock Isaah Yeo who put him into a hole and the barnstorming front-rower finished from close range.
Kangaroos skipper James Tedesco then crossed for the second try when he pierced a gap out wide to score in the 10th minute.
Tino Fa’asuamaleaui wasn’t about to be upstaged by his Haas and the prop got in on the action next when he crashed over next to the posts in the 13th minute.
Next it was Cameron Murray who crossed out wide in the 15th minute after making the most of a Haas offload earlier in the set.
Samoa finally stopped the onslaught when they regathered a short kick-off and a few plays later Luciano Leilua put in a smart grubber for Murray Taulagi - who played for Australia at the World Cup last year - to score in the corner.
Australia hadn’t scored in almost 25 minutes before they won back a short dropout on the stroke of halftime and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow raced 80 metres to score.
Faalogo looked to have scored a sensational chip-and-chase try only for the Bunker to deny the Samoan fullback after contentiously finding a knock on in the lead up.
Tabuai-Fidow then made it a double when he finished a nice team try in the 56th minute.
Faalogo, who has played just one NRL game, kept his head up and set up Leilua to score in the 73rd minute after the backrower did well to haul in the pass.
But it was the Kangaroos who finished as they started when veteran halfback Daly Cherry-Evans put a grubber in for debutant Kotoni Staggs to score on debut with the last play of the game.
“That first 20, 25 minutes was excellent,” Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga said.
“A lot of the players have come off long breaks so it was always going to be clunky… obviously you need match fitness so things go a bit awry but I thought our effort was really good and defensively I thought we were outstanding.
“Payne and Tino were great and off the back of that our spine, Teddy, Benny Hunt and Chez and Cameron Munster gave us a platform to get all those points.
“Then Hammer and Kotoni were really good in the centres, they took advantage of opportunities. We see Hammer in space and it’s see ya later, he’s an excitement machine.”
Samoa had the first attacking chance after Haas’ early mistake but they couldn’t turn it into points as Stephen Crichton - who replaced the injured Jarome Luai at No. 6 - grubbered the ball dead.
The fast start from the Australians came after Samoa skipper Junior Paulo led a spine-tingling war dance before kick-off.
Kangaroos team: 1. James Tedesco 2. Dylan Edwards 3. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow 4. Kotoni Staggs 5. Selwyn Cobbo 6. Cam Munster 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Payne Haas 9. Ben Hunt 10. Tino Fa’asuamaleaui 11. Cameron Murray 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo 14. Harry Grant 15. Lindsay Collins 16. Patrick Carrigan 17 Reuben Cotter
Samoa team: 1. Sualauvi Faalogo 2. Murray Taulagi 3. Izack Tago 4. Young Tonumaipea 5. Brian To’o 6. Stephen Crichton 7. Daejarn Asi 8. Stefano Utoikamanu 19. Justin Matamua Kum Tong 10. Junior Paulo 11. Luciano Leilua 12. Connelly Lemuelu 13. Keenan Palasia 9. Gordon Chan 14. Spencer Leniu 15. Terrell May 16. Heilum Luki
