Australia win Rugby League World Cup after emphatic victory in final over Samoa

Australia’s performance encapsulated their World Cup. It wasn’t always pretty, but by God it was effective.

Previous touring parties have been branded the Unbeatables and the Invincibles. This squad would be best summed up as the Impregnables.

They defended their way to their ninth World Cup since 1975, their attack rarely sparkling throughout the tournament as they put the exclamation point on their tournament with a 30-10 victory.

There were flashes of brilliance at Old Trafford on Sunday morning - Cleary finally sprung to life as he contributed three try assists and Tedesco produced a captain’s knock - but for much of the match they did their best work without the ball.

Samoa managed to breach the Kangaroos on two occasions - once after Latrell Mitchell went chasing an intercept and then a second time after a Stephen Crichton intercept.

Australia generally had the answer though as they brought Samoa’s Cinderella story to a halt before more than 67,000 fans at the home of Manchester United. Old Trafford became the Theatre of Broken Dreams for Samoa and their fans.

The underdogs, who arrived at Old Trafford having been inspired by a social media message from Hollywood superstar Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, started well enough but when the dam wall broke, points flowed.

The Kangaroos’ opening try in the 14th minute owed much to the smarts of Cleary and the strength of Mitchell. Cleary has had a quiet World Cup by his standards but he went the short side and Mitchell did the rest, slipping through the tackle of Brian To’o and overpowering Joseph Suaalii to score.

Four minutes later they were in again as the Kangaroos’ man of the tournament - Josh Addo-Carr - found a hole in the Samoan wall.

Oregon Kaufusi was called offside and momentarily dropped his guard. Addo-Carr raced through a hole and Tedesco loomed in support, racing away to give Australia a 10-0 lead.

Samoa had the chance to hit back not once, but twice. Addo-Carr intervene to stop a certain try after Suaalii had flown to take a Luai bomb and then Munster held up Chanel Harris-Tevita over the line.

They would be left to rue their profligacy when Harry Grant entered the fray and set up a try for Liam Martin with one of his first touches of the ball. Cleary’s form had been solid rather than spectacular through the tournament but he then produced a second try assist for Cameron Murray.

The Murray try came after the Kangaroos were reduced to 12 men after Angus Crichton was sin-binned for a forearm that left Chanel Harris-Tevita in Disneyland.

With Crichton cooling his heels on the sidelines, Cleary hit Murray on the chest with a pinpoint pass and the South Sydney captain did the rest.

That try sucked what was left of the wind in the Samoan sails. It could have got worse moments later as Crichton returned to the field and had the chance to score himself, only to lose the ball over the line after a brilliant kick from Addo-Carr.

The Kangaroos were left to rue that miss as Samoa opened their account in the 61st minute through Brian To’o. Luai’s floating pass caught out Latrell Mitchell and To’o was left in acres of room, sliding over as the stadium erupted.

The Kangaroos would respond the only way they know how - with a try of their own. Again, Cleary was involved as he found Cameron Munster and the Australian captain loomed on the inside, facing away to score.

The Kangaroos were comfortable but Stephen Crichton grabbed another intercept, off a Ben Hunt pass, and the crowd was back into it. The Kangaroos had the last laugh as Cleary found Mitchell and he raced away.

Originally published as Australia win Rugby League World Cup after emphatic victory in final over Samoa