In-form Samoa fullback Anthony Milford has sounded a warning to the rest of the World Cup sides, insisting Samoa can “only get better” as the competition progresses.
A Samoa side brimming with NRL talent was far too good for Papua New Guinea on Monday night (UK time), with Milford starring in the 38-4 rout.
With Samoa now in the box seat to finish second in Group B and set up a likely quarter final against Fiji, giving them ample time to work on their combinations. If results go largely to plan from here there is every chance they will face off against Australia for a place in the final.
“We just tried to keep the foot on the pedal and keep a roll on but in that second half we kind of died off so next week we’ll be looking to bounce back and put in an 80-minute performance,” Milford said following the PNG game.
“We’re working really hard during the week; that 80-minute performance is what we need to work on and we’ll only get better as the comp goes on.”
Asked if he was happy with his own performance – a man-of-the-match effort that included 155 metres, five offloads, three line-breaks and an astonishing 14 tackle-breaks – Milford ominously said he still had “a lot of places where I could improve”.
“We’ll just have a look at the video and look at where we can improve but as I said: during the comp our team’s only going to get better, so I’m looking forward to it,” he added.
Milford said he was “looking forward to seeing the sun again” in France for the side’s final group game against the Tricolours, but wasn’t getting ahead of himself in terms of the result.
“We’ll just go about our business the way we do and try our best to get the win over there. We know it’s really tough but we’ll do all the preparation we can to secure that win,” he said.
