Summary

Jonathan Howcroft

Thank you for joining me this evening. I’ll hopefully see you again next Sunday for one final world cup MBM. For now, I’ll hand you over to Jack Snape and his take on a thumping Australian victory.

If Reece Walsh is Tigger, Australian captain Isaah Yeo is more of an Eeyore.

double quotation mark There was a lot of emotion at the start of the game which which you expect in a World Cup semi-final. I thought we started well. I thought probably the best we’d started this campaign so far. And that’s the pressure of these big matches that you need to go out and have your best performance. I thought we did that tonight. I felt like we’ve built, as much as there’s been some sort of critiquing going on from the outside, I felt we’ve been building each week and we’re still chasing our best performance. I thought that was a real, real step in the right direction.

I felt like the most control we had. The conditions were tough. It was sort of on and on and off again rain. The wind was sort of annoying for both sides, I reckon, but just thought we still played footy. That wasn’t really high risk or anything, but it just sort of just let our X factor players shine. I thought they did that tonight.

Player of the match Reece Walsh delivers a shirtless postgame interview in the pouring rain with a beaming smile, jabbering at a million words per minute. His energy is infectious.

double quotation mark I got in trouble at half time,” he confesses, about his celebratory backflip, “but there was a bunch of kids, like all week at our hotel every morning. And every every time I seen them, they keep going, “can you do a backflip, can you do a backflip?” I was like, oh, might as well put on a show for the kids.

Just having a lot of fun out there with this group of boys. And I feel like we’re just, we’re steady building. So it’s been good fun.

Samoa come again but don’t look like creating much – until, 20m out, Volkman shimmies to unsettle the defensive line, Luai links with Tabuai-Fidow, and Tago continues the irresistible momentum to slide over in the left corner! That was superb backline combination play! The bunker will need to study the putdown though because the Panther’s boots were very close to the touchline. Try confirmed! To the delight of the majority of the Allianz Stadium crowd.

Crichton fails with the touchline conversion.

Reece Walsh – zero to hero! The fullback doesn’t dwell on his error, hitting the line on the burst, spinning and crashing over. The try originated with the scrum on the left wing. Four tackles later Samoa are scrambling with too many defenders committed to the ruck. Grant is alert to the opportunity, he knows there’s an overlap on the left, and Walsh is the finisher par excelence.

Munster drills another handy goal.

Adam Gee keeps it 13 v 13 with the bunker failing to identify any serious foul play at that coming together. Australia gain territory from the penalty though, then they’re gifted a set restart on their attacking 30. Munster snipes to the 20, Murray rolls off a couple of tackles and finds the offload, Preston is in support, and Best finishes the move in the left corner!

Munster makes me eat my words with a superb touchline conversion.

Of course Australia score from the next play. Dearden and Walsh free Staggs down the right. Then the ball is shifted quickly to the left where Walsh inserts himself back into the line again. He stands up Volkman, teases Crichton, and glides through the gap and over for the try. Unsatisfied with the spectacle, Walsh then unfurls an audacious backflip!

Munster absolutely butchers his second kick in succession. Surely Australia can’t go into a world cup final with Melbourne’s fourth choice kicker as their primary taker of conversions when New Zealand have dead-eye Isaako?

31 mins: Tabuai-Fidow inserts himself into the game twice in the same set to provide some impetus. It helps create some field position for Luai to launch a mighty bomb on the last. Manuleleua is on it in a flash, his deep breaths and heavy footsteps haunting Reece Walsh’s nightmares. The aerial contest is a toss-up – and the ball comes down in Stephen Crichton’s waiting arms! The centre can’t believe his luck as he skips between the uprights! Samoa are back!

Or are they? Was Manuleleua offside? It is marginal – but the bunker says play on. Now, what about the contest for the mark? Manuleleua gets first touch – and it deflects into Walsh. But did it deflect into the defender forward or backwards? The decision is knock-on! Devastation for Samoa!