Tedesco inspires Kangaroos to World Cup glory
Australia claimed a third straight Rugby League World Cup title, holding off a spirited Samoan side to seal a 30-10 win in Manchester.
The victory in front of 67,502 fans at Old Trafford was Australia’s 12th world title and was inspired by the efforts of skipper James Tedesco.
Tedesco grabbed a try in each half, ran for over 200 metres, and was named man of the match as six-try Australia brought Samoa’s fairytale run to the final to an abrupt end yesterday.
The Samoans began this tournament by conceding 60 points against England, but saw off Tonga and the English in the knockout stages to become the first tier-two side into the final.
Australia have not lost a World Cup game since the
2008 final and they proved too much for the Samoans to handle as they ran in six tries.
Despite having the weight of possession and territory early, Samoa were unable to come up with anything to show for it.
Valentine Holmes made a searing break up the middle of the Samoan defence and a few minutes later Latrell Mitchell crashed over for the opener, steamrolling young fullback Joseph Suaalii in the process.
That try seemed to shake the Australian side into life and another break up the middle – this time from Josh Addo-carr – ended in Tedesco scoring under the crossbar.
With the half-hour mark approaching, Samoa hooker Chanel Harris-tavita was held up over the line in what shaped as their closest chance of the first half.
Australia made them pay for their failure to convert with back-rower Liam Martin busting through the line to score to give his side a 14-0 lead at halftime.
Samoa were given a leg-up five minutes into the second half when Kangaroos forward Angus Crichton was sin-binned by referee Ashley Klein for the use of a cocked elbow on Harris-tavita.
The Samoa No 9 did not return after being taken off for a head injury assessment.
Even down to 12, Australia exerted their dominance with Cameron Murray waltzing over to put the Kangaroos 20-0 up.
A try from Brian To’o on the hour mark gave Samoa the faintest hope of a comeback but that was quickly quelled when Tedesco skipped in for his second of the evening.
Centre Stephen Crichton scored an intercept effort but Mitchell added his second try in the final 20 seconds to round out an impressive Australian victory.