Tonga edge Samoa 20-18 in Sydney to confirm England's group-stage exit from the Rugby League World Cup
Addin Fonua-Blake's late try beat Samoa 20-18 and sent Tonga to a semi-final with New Zealand. England needed a 46-point Tonga win and are out.
At a glance
- Tonga beat Samoa 20-18 in Sydney in front of almost 30,000 fans, with Addin Fonua-Blake scoring the winning try five minutes from the end.
- England needed Tonga to win by more than 46 points and are out despite winning two of their three group games.
- Semi-finals: New Zealand v Tonga on November 7 in Newcastle; Australia v Samoa on November 8 in Sydney.
- The final is on November 15 in Brisbane. The Rugby Football League has announced a panel to plan the future of the English game.
Tonga beat Samoa 20-18 at CommBank Stadium in Sydney on Sunday, in a match both already expected to survive and yet played as if everything depended on it. Addin Fonua-Blake's try five minutes from the end won it and put Tonga top of their pool. The result also ended England's World Cup: they needed Tonga to win by more than 46 points.
England go home from the group stage despite winning two of their three games, ending a run of six straight tournaments in the last four.
A lead lost, a lead regained, and a foot in touch
The Sipi Tau and Siva Tau before kick-off set the tone, in front of almost 30,000 people. Robert Toia broke the deadlock after 26 minutes with a run of nearly 50 metres, and Isaiya Katoa's conversion and penalty made it 8-0. Brian To'o's try cut that to 8-4 by half-time.
Jojo Fifita then pushed Tonga 14-4 clear soon after the break. Samoa's reply was fierce: To'o scored his second, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow crossed on the hour, and Ronald Volkman forced his way over five minutes later to give Samoa their first lead of the match.
Fonua-Blake answered, and Katoa kept his perfect kicking record to make it 20-18. Samoa's missed conversions proved costly. They thought they had won it at the very end when Sualauvi Fa'alogo went over in the corner, but the winger had stepped into touch before grounding the ball.
How England went out with a +86 points difference
The format left England with no margin once they lost their opening match. The combined six-team Pool B and C sends only two teams through, and head-to-head comes before points difference.
| England's games | Result |
|---|---|
| v Tonga | Lost 30-12 |
| v France | Won 82-0 |
| v Papua New Guinea | Won 34-12 |
That left a heavy points gap to Samoa that the win over PNG could not close, despite a 22-0 lead after 22 minutes. Only a Tonga rout on Sunday could have saved them. Hopes flickered at 8-0 and went out at half-time.
Ian Nolan, the new chief executive of the Rugby Football League, accepted that travel, format and injuries had played a part. "We can't use these as excuses," he said. Within minutes of the final whistle the RFL announced a panel including Paul Sculthorpe, Jodie Cunningham and Adrian Morley to map out the English game's future. England's women also went out in the group stage, after a 24-6 defeat by Samoa.
The road to Brisbane
| Stage | Match | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Semi-final 1 | New Zealand v Tonga | November 7 | Newcastle, New South Wales |
| Semi-final 2 | Australia v Samoa | November 8 | Sydney |
| Final | Winners | November 15 | Brisbane |
Australia v Samoa repeats the 2022 final. Earlier on Sunday, Lebanon beat France 24-20 in golden point in Parramatta, with Abbas Miski scoring the winning try after a France error.
A big day for the Pacific game, and a harder one for the north
Two small Pacific island nations, with populations of about 100,000 and 200,000, played one of the matches of the tournament in front of almost 30,000 people. The northern game, by contrast, has been left with hard questions about player development and domestic structures.
Tonga's semi-final with New Zealand comes first, on Saturday in Newcastle.
