Clinical Kangaroos sink Samoa to storm into Cup final

The Kangaroos have set up a World Cup Final showdown with the Kiwis after a dominant 44-12 win over Samoa in Sunday's semi-final in front of 41,259 fans at Allianz Stadium.

With Reece Walsh snaring a hat-trick and Tom Dearden and Cameron Munster steering the ship superbly, the world champions turned a 26-2 half-time lead into their sixth Test match win over Samoa from six meetings.

The Kangaroos now head to Brisbane to face their Trans-Tasman rivals in a rematch of their Round 1 blockbuster in Sydney and a repeat of the 2013, 2008 and 2000 World Cup Finals.

That decider at Suncorp Stadium in 2008 produced one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history when the Benji Marshall-inspired Kiwis got home 34-20.

The night started well enough for Samoa as they looked to qualify for a second straight World Cup Final, with Stephen Crichton knocking over a penalty goal in the fifth minute after the Kangaroos were caught offside.

Just two minutes later Crichton came up with an error 20m out and the Kangaroos cashed in from the set scrum when Dearden dummied his way past Jazz Tevaga and Francis Manuleleua to score the opening try.

Come the 14th minute and the Kangaroos had a second when Keaon Koloamatangi was stopped just short of the line and offloaded for Grant who found Munster and the five-eighth turned Jacob Preston underneath him to score.

A mistake by Spencer Leniu coming out of own end in the 24th minute handed Australia more field position and winger Tom Trbojevic crossed for his eighth try of tournament after slick lead-up from Dearden and Kotoni Staggs.

Samoa looked to have hit back on the half-hour mark when Francis Manuleleua chased a Jarome Luai bomb and contested the catch with Reece Walsh with the ball spilling to Crichton who dived over.

The bunker ruled Manuleleua had knocked on in the contest and the try was ruled out, taking the wind out of Samoa's sails after an emotional celebration.

Just two minutes later Walsh rubbed salt in Samoa's wounds when he exploded into a hole on the left edge between Ronald Volkman and Crichton. 

Ahead 20-2 with half-time approaching, Australia grabbed a fifth try when Cameron Murray went to the line and drew in three defenders before slipping a pass to Preston who send Bradman Best over for his first Test try.

Making matters worse for Samoa they lost Spencer Leniu to the sin bin for dissent after he had taken out on his frustration on referee Adam Gee after the Best try.

Trailing by 24 at the break Samoa made the ideal start to the second term when Walsh came up with a cold drop from a Volkman bomb and Crichton cleaned up the scraps to score. 

In typical Walsh fashion he put the error out of his mind and came up with his second try of the night three minutes later when he took a short ball from Grant and powered through Crichton to score. The conversion from Cameron Munster made it 32-8 to the Kangaroos.

Samoa lifted again in the 61st minute when Izack Tago slid across in the left-hand corner after good work on his inside from Volkman, Luai and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

As they had done all night the Kangaroos answered the challenge with a superb team try finished off by Walsh after Trbojevic, Dearden and Munster played crucial roles in a try that started on their own side of halfway.

With eight minutes to play and their ticket already booked for the big dance, left winger Jack Bostock crossed for his seventh try of the tournament which Munster converted to make it 44-12.

Just as it was in 2022 in the UK, Australia and New Zealand will meet in the men's and women's World Cup Finals next Sunday in what promises to be a magnificent showcase of rugby league.