Sports News | England Makes Dream Start to RLWC, Aussies Thrash Fiji
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. England gave its home Rugby League World Cup a dream launch in an astonishing 60-6 win over star-studded Samoa.
Newcastle, Oct 16 (AP) England gave its home Rugby League World Cup a dream launch in an astonishing 60-6 win over star-studded Samoa.
A technical fault forced the Kaiser Chiefs to cut short the pre-match entertainment, but that was quickly forgotten as England raced 18-0 ahead and finished with 10 tries in front of a happily stunned crowd of 43,119 at St James' Park.
“I never expected that sort of scoreline. I'm very happy,” England coach Shaun Wane said. "Samoa were a bit off today but our defense put them off.”
Meanwhile, Fiji also enjoyed a dream start with the opening try against Australia in rainy Leeds. But the Kangaroos took it on the chin and hit back with seven converted tries to comfortably win 42-8.
It was an ominous statement of intent from the defending champions, who started with seven debutants and without four squad members who featured in the Australian National Rugby League grand final two weeks ago to give them extra recovery time.
So much was expected of Samoa, which was the bettors' favorite against England and stacked with players from the NRL final. But they didn't have a warmup match, were vastly under-prepared, and lacked any kind of cohesion. All they generated was an intercept try by center Izack Tago.
To make matters worse, loose forward Braden Hamlin-Uele (calf), utility back Tyrone May (dislocated hip) and winger Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (ankle) were unlikely to take any further part in the World Cup.
Samoa should improve through the tournament and will need to if it meets Tonga in the quarterfinals, while England can look forward to a probable last-eight meeting with Papua New Guinea.
Anticipating a tough battle up front, England coach Shaun Wane included four forwards on the bench and the tactic paid off as Samoa was steamrolled.
Wane handed competitive debuts to NRL-based trio Dom Young, Herbie Farnworth and Victor Radley and all impressed.
Winger Tommy Makinson led England's spree with a personal haul of 24 points, scoring one try and adding 10 goals from 12 attempts.
Halfbacks Jack Welsby and George Williams hit the ground running. Skipper Sam Tomkins put Williams through a gap and Welsby was in support to touch down the first try in the 18th minute.
Welsby then provided cut-out passes for winger Young to go over twice in five minutes.
Tago picked off Welsby to make it 18-6 at halftime but the fightback was snuffed out eight minutes into the second half when center Kallum Watkins took Mike McMeeken's pass to go in for England's fourth try.
After Samoa scrumhalf Anthony Milford was sinbinned for a late tackle on Tomkins, England piled on with tries to Farnworth, Elliott Whitehead twice, Makinson, Williams and prop Tom Burgess.
“We always knew we were a bit underdone but didn't expect a result like that,” Samoa coach Matt Parish said. “That's the first game and it's the result of the last game that counts. We can put in a lot better performance than that.”
The Kangaroos found themselves four points behind within four minutes after Fiji center Semi Valemei flopped on a short kick behind the line.
Australia had to fight for an 18-4 halftime advantage but wrested control after the interval with winger Josh Addo-Carr completing a try double and Valentine Holmes completing a perfect set of seven conversions.
Fiji, a semifinalist in the last three World Cups, was more than a match for Australia in terms of brute strength, but moments of sloppiness were ruthlessly exploited.
Jeremiah Nanai scored on debut, Latrell Mitchell served up a try for Angus Crichton, Mitchell was repaid by a one-hand pass from Cameron Munster, hooker Harry Grant steamed over in a move he kick-started himself with a 40-20, and captain James Tedesco jinked through a tiring Fiji backline.
Fiji had the last say, fullback Sunia Turuva's try prompting one of the biggest cheers from the Headingley crowd of 13,366. AP
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)