The Gallagher Kangaroos defeated Toa Samoa 38–12 on Saturday night in Townsville thanks to a devastating four-try burst in the first fifteen minutes of play.
Player of the match Payne Haas and teammate Tino Fa’asuamaleaui led the attack, and the Kangaroos blew the opposition out of the stadium before they had a chance to regroup.
In the fifth minute, Haas scored the first point for the world champions 6-0 when he carried three defenders over the tryline with a short pass from Isaah Yeo.
After four minutes, the Kangaroos’ captain James Tedesco overtook Izack Tago on the left edge, and in the thirteenth minute, Fa’asuamaleaui scored, giving the team a 16-0 advantage.
Following some outstanding play by Haas, Ben Hunt, and Cameron Munster, Australia’s Cameron Murray scored the next goal. Samoa then clawed their way back into the game, scoring through Murray Taulagi to make the score 22–6.
Samoa had an opportunity to score a second after Dylan Edwards made a mistake near the Kangaroo’s try line, but Daejarn Asi’s weak pass cost them the point.
In the shadows of half-time, the Kangaroos came up with a long-range special after a Daly Cherry-Evans short dropout was tapped down by Tago and landed in the hands of Harry Grant.
The hooker looked for support and found Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on his shoulder, the Test debutant racing 80 meters to score Australia’s fifth try.
Ten minutes into the second half Samoa looked to have answered with a magical try of their own when young gun Sualauvi Faalogo chipped and regathered to dot down next to the posts but replays showed a lost ball by Keenan Palasia in the lead-up.
Some slick passing from Grant, Tedesco, and Murray then gave Tabuai-Fidow the chance to plunge over for his second try and the dashing Dolphin managed to get the ball down despite the attention of three defenders.
Trailing 32-6 Samoa hung tough and were rewarded with a try to Luciano Leilua in the 72nd minute after Taulagi had done brilliantly to evade Kotoni Staggs, Cherry-Evans, and Liam Martin before turning the ball inside to his winger.
A dropped ball by Brian To’o gave the Kangaroos a shot at a late try and Staggs was the man to score it after a pinpoint grubber by Cherry-Evans. The Broncos star converted his own try for a final scoreline of 38-12.
The Kangaroos have now won all 11 Test matches played in Australia since Mal Meninga took the helm and will set their sights on making that 12 against arch-rivals New Zealand in a fortnight.
Play of the Game
Throughout his 70 NRL games, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow has made it a habit to score amazing tries, and he took that flair to Townsville to give the Kangaroos a 22-point advantage at the break. On Australia’s 20-meter line, The Hammer received a pass from Harry Grant and went into overdrive, showing off his swerve and fend as he dashed away for a try in his first Test encounter.
What They Said
“I think Hamiso and Kotoni were really good in the centers [on debut]. They took advantage of opportunities. We saw Hammer in space with the footy and it’s ‘see you later’. He’s an excitement machine, he’s good for our game. Kotoni had a great debut as well. I thought Dylan [Edwards] and Selwyn [Cobbo] handled the occasion really well. Our week together was really good but we can only improve from now on. There’s a few bumps and bruises from a long year so hopefully, they’ll feel fit and healthy and come back into camp next weekend.” – Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga
“There were some really good individual performances. I thought young Sua [Faalogo] at fullback, was one of the real highlights of the game. Young Gordon [Chan Kum Tong] at hooker as well. We had nine debutants tonight and those guys stood up for us which was awesome, and that’s really good for us moving forward. The start of the game was really fast and maybe we didn’t go with that speed at the start but as we were able to get into the rhythm of the game and actually hang onto the ball I thought we gave ourselves a chance to be able to get back into the game.” – Samoa coach Ben Gardiner
