Samoa Stun England To Reach R.L.W.C Grand Final
Samoa Won Against England with a golden point into extra time 27-26
Photo By : Will Palmer / SWPix
As England watched their chance in the grand finals slip away in a historical win by the Toa Samoa in an nerve wrecking re-match at the Rugby League World Cup 2022 Semi-Finals.
The Toa Samoa team gifted fans across the globe with an early Christmas present.
Samoa became the first nation in the Pacific to have ever reached the Rugby League World Cup finals , creating history and marking 2022 as a memorable year for the nation.
Samoan gathered in the early hours of Sunday morning to witness live broadcasts of the game in hopes of a victorious outcome. Fortunately the worries of the coming day were wiped away when Stephen Crichton landed the winning drop-goal and became the tie breaker 3 minutes into extra time making the centre player a history maker.
The Siva-Tau took the center focus as it did with the Mate Ma'a Tonga, electrifying the air around the Emirates Stadium in London , boosting confidence with Toa fans as they were outnumbered by England fans on the grand stand.
The nail biting re-match had both teams ferociously battling and desperate for a spot to go head to head with Australia in the grand finals this coming Saturday on the 20th of November.
During the first 5 minutes of the game Tim Lafai led the scoreboard with the opening try.Toa captain Junior Paulo carved up a few metres creating advantage for Tim Lafai easy work for a score.England struck back with 6 points ahead in just 30 minutes.
Toa prop Ligi Sao miraculously finds himself at dummy half , passing the ball was an expectation and he did just that, misleading the English defense before crashing for a try leading Samoa a 10-6 at half-time.
The English showed in the second half who were hosting and they were in favourites to win. As John Bateman fought back and landed another try leading the English in the beginning of the second half.
Toa Samoa did not wither and were not shaken by the scoreboard and stood their ground. This led Jarome Luai to dance around with the English players. This ushered a try that stunned everyone at the stadium , Luai short balling to Junior Paulo who offloaded metres centimetres from the scoreline back to Luai who volleyed the ball to Stephen Crichton who slid at the scoreline in style.
English winger Dominic Young dropped the ball cold giving the Toa Samoa top advantage. Just metres from the English try line , Luai found Tim Lafai who disregarded a tackle by Kallum Watkins which led them to an 8 point lead.
With just a few handling mistakes , the Toa felt heavy once again when English centre Herbie Farnworth grabbed an opportunity and sliced past three Toa defenders scoring for England while the boys were still in the lead 20-18.
The two point lead quickly disappeared when England notched a penalty from the right in front of them, and had attained eight points , setting their confidence on a high note. But in an unexpected turn of events , Stephen Crichton intercepted a 4 on 2 that was created by England locker Victor Radley. With the intention to pass the ball to an English player but instead landed in the hands of the Toa centre Crichton.
As Samoa was mostly likely to win the game with just five minutes left and a leading 26-20 , England strikes back with a try and a successful conversion setting the scoreboard a tie at 26-26 points.
As the intensity of the match was felt across the homes of dozen's of English and Toa Samoa die-hard fans , a forward pass set England backwards and the nail biting was again felt. With no hesitation the ball was passed to centre Stephen Crichton and without any hesitation made the historic goal-kick sending the Toa Samoa to the Grand Finals of the RLWC 2022.
"685 to the world" , the trendiest phrase of cheer lately , had the adrenaline kicking for days and weeks for fans of the Toa Samoa not only on island but across the globe as supporters showed their appreciation when the boys in blue demolished England with a staggering 27-26 points.
Social media posts , videos and photos have flooded online with supporters cheering from all corners of the world in countries such as Egypt , the United Kingdom , Australia and New Zealand. The excitement continues this week as parades are set to take place globally for the support of the boys in blue.
As Toa Samoa prepares for the Grand Final against Australia , the adrenaline is once again felt as the nation celebrates the travelling of the dream team knowing well that the support backing them up is felt everywhere in the world.