Sat 19 Nov: Men's World Cup Final: Australia v Samoa KO 4pm

[jacksy]

3 hours ago, Live after death said:

If series drawn hone nation wins. Eastwood mussed a fairly routine kick which would have been 16-14. Meninga defo obstructed Gibson. 

O'Loughlin should have taken it.  

Eastwood was half decent but wasn't a great goalkicker.  

[Niels]

3 hours ago, Live after death said:

If series drawn hone nation wins. Eastwood mussed a fairly routine kick which would have been 16-14. Meninga defo obstructed Gibson. 

I thought if it was a draw then whoever holds the Ashes retains them? 

The side without them has to win them back I think?

[Mojo]

1 hour ago, Dunbar said:

I've seen English fans trying to convince ourselves time and again that we are as good as or better than Australia and listing all the reasons why it could be close or a win.

Australia are better and they will win but I hope it is a good game for a great end to the tournament and the Samoan fans.

The difference is this samoan team has played with those aussie players in origin and nrl premierships every season. Everyone here expected that samoan team to lose the last 2 weeks and here we are. Of course the aussies are the favourites but just like what Papali'i said on his interview this is basically Origin vs Origin players.

[Niels]

3 minutes ago, Mojo said:

The difference is this samoan team has played with those aussie players in origin and nrl premierships every season. Everyone here expected that samoan team to lose the last 2 weeks and here we are. Of course the aussies are the favourites but just like what Papali'i said on his interview this is basically Origin vs Origin players.

Good point. I think also, they have the Panthers players who have not only played with the Australians but beaten them regularly and won the last 2 grand finals.

However Australia have top players also and seem fresher as they have been able to utilise their squad depth. 

[Davo5]

55 minutes ago, jacksy said:

O'Loughlin should have taken it.  

Eastwood was half decent but wasn't a great goalkicker.  

Despite taking 10 mins to kick one.

[Mojo]

34 minutes ago, Niels said:

Good point. I think also, they have the Panthers players who have not only played with the Australians but beaten them regularly and won the last 2 grand finals.

However Australia have top players also and seem fresher as they have been able to utilise their squad depth. 

Yup Australia are huge favourites but this samoan team has a chance like Kiwis, England and Tonga would've had if they faced the Aussies in the final.

The Aussie team of the past had elite players in every position, but this world cup is different, they're very beatable and some of their top players that would've been picked first are playing for Samoa instead. They we're lucky to beat the Kiwis last week.

I won't be surprised if the Aussies win by 13+ and I also won't be surprised if Samoa wins tomorrow.

Everyone doubted the samoan forward pack against tonga saying they'll get overpowered, but they held there own against tonga.

Everyone said the Samoan forwards won't handle the English pace and fitness, but Samoan forwards physicality matched the English forwards, and at one stage the English forwards had no answer against samoa's power forwards. Two of the Samoan props Paulo and Papali'i would've been in the Kangaroos team easy if they turned samoa down, will be the leaders in the samoan team. All I'm saying is the Aussies are beatable and the Samoan team has a small chance to upset. The samoan team came into the tournament as 3rd favourites but everyone's doubting them because of that first game against England.

[MatthewWoody]

I agree with you, though I'm not sure the English forwards were used at their best and had their best game last Saturday. 
I think Samoa, though Aus are favourites, can win this. 

[Dunbar]

1 hour ago, Mojo said:

The difference is this samoan team has played with those aussie players in origin and nrl premierships every season. Everyone here expected that samoan team to lose the last 2 weeks and here we are. Of course the aussies are the favourites but just like what Papali'i said on his interview this is basically Origin vs Origin players.

I'm not arguing with you.  Just saying I have been here so many times and the Aussies have dashed any hopes over and over.

You have said you are happy to see Samoa in the final and anything more is a bonus... that's what I have always thought.  The one time I thought we were favourites they absolutely smashed us.  So enjoy the day, I'm sure you will.

[Zilla Budgie]

Samoa's final was last week. Should be an Oz win by 18+. Hope I'm wrong as I will be attending. 

[Mojo]

5 hours ago, Dunbar said:

I'm not arguing with you.  Just saying I have been here so many times and the Aussies have dashed any hopes over and over.

You have said you are happy to see Samoa in the final and anything more is a bonus... that's what I have always thought.  The one time I thought we were favourites they absolutely smashed us.  So enjoy the day, I'm sure you will.

I ain't arguing with you I'm just debating. Hopefully it's a good game and I can't wait for kick off. If the kangaroos lose there's gonna be an uproar of Origin eligibility coming out.

[Sports Prophet]

20 hours ago, frank said:

The Aussies never did a thing to encourage the Island nations  improve their National  teams, they did it to improve their comp and  for no other reason. At least    90%  of Islanders and Maoris playing in the NRL   were filched out of the NZ  comps and the NZRL never received a cent for them. On top of that they have treated the NZRL with disdain for years and kept them poor. This has had an adverse effect on the Game in NZ and will continue.

In regard to depressing places in the UK, a great place to get  depressed is to visit the Outback. or maybe a visit to Redfern or La Peruse.

Looking forward to some great games this weekend.

Whether there was a specified intention to directly improve the national performances of the pacific nations is neither here nor there. Undeniably, the actions taken by the NRL, to improve the NRL, have indirectly improved the performances of other pacific national teams.

Those actions have resulted in further, more direct pacific strategy in the form of the Silktails and Hunters.

Intended or not, the NRL are very responsible for the drastic improvement of all Pacific nations to a point that Aus, NZ, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and PNG would fancy their chances in a one off game against England.

I hope Samoa win, but the Kangaroos are favourites for me. 

[The Masked Poster]

On reflection, I can totally understand the outpouring of support for Samoa, instinctively I support anyone against Australia.

But I suspect this will fire them up and create a bit of a siege mentality. 

Aldo-Carr is very unlikely to be as forgiving as the England wingers. He's actually part of the reason I'm going to go in the end, not seen such an exciting player for some time. 

[Sports Prophet]

12 hours ago, Mojo said:

Australia wins this battle easy. But Maniga has been changing the halves back and forth all world cup and it's also the reason why the Aussies haven't clicked yet. If they click the aussies will win this match easily of they don't, Luai will make them pay. The Samoans haven't changed there line up since game 2 and that might be in Samoa's favour. But the aussies wins the halves battle easily if they click.

For some reason I read that in my head as if it was Denzel Washington saying it

[Barry Badrinath]

Anyone printing off tickets for tomorrow? 

 

I've only had tickets for the hj where we Had to print them off, looking at the tickets for the final its still saying print them off, they won't be accepting mobile tickets at old Trafford.

 

Will we be OK? Or have I got to find a printer somewhere tomorrow morning? 

[frank]

Very good coverage of the Samoans partying on the news tonight. evidently going to continue all night.

[Farmduck]

At the betting shop:  Samoa 11/2  Australia 1/8

Or, in Australian: Samoa $6.50  Australia $1.12

I've got 3 bets:

$2 on Samoa to win

$2 on Ferns to win

and a $2 multi of Ferns --> Samoa at $35.75

I expect OZ to win both games but I wouldn't bet on anything paying less than $1.20 Even OZ by 13+ is only $1.45

Some possible value I noticed:

Harry Grant to score at any time:  $3.50

First try scorer: Brian To'o $17.00

Carbon-based Life Form of the Match:  Munster $7.00

 

[andyscoot]

Australian fans on social media are taking umbrage at the short in goals and have, in their infinite wisdom, suggested it should be played at a stadium built for rugby league or Twickenham...

[Treize Hombres]

7 hours ago, Barry Badrinath said:

Anyone printing off tickets for tomorrow? 

 

I've only had tickets for the hj where we Had to print them off, looking at the tickets for the final its still saying print them off, they won't be accepting mobile tickets at old Trafford.

 

Will we be OK? Or have I got to find a printer somewhere tomorrow morning? 

The game day checker email that I received says that you can do either. I'm just taking the mobile tickets. The only tickets I had to print off were for HJ  so I can't see OT being an issue. 

Enjoy the games 

[Farmduck]

27 minutes ago, andyscoot said:

Australian fans on social media are taking umbrage at the short in goals and have, in their infinite wisdom, suggested it should be played at a stadium built for rugby league or Twickenham...

I almost never take umbrage these days. I used to but I ended up with umbrage stacked to the ceiling at my place and I could barely get the door open.

The short kicking game is an important skill in the NRL and the short in-goals do nullify that a bit but I don't think it hurts Australia too much. Both the Samoa halves have played all their RL on Australian grounds (apart from a few internationals) so it's going to affect them too.

As Ben Hunt and the Fox showed, the short kicking game isn't the only tool in the kicking bag.

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

The Rock's backing will be worth 40 points so I'm now Samoa by 10

The Rock will then fly to join the Samoans in thier after game party. 

From memory they've booked out Big Fella's nightclub in Fev for thier post match celebration 

[Jughead]

Think Australia will put them to the sword but I hope it’s a decent game. 

[Nate90]

I would love it Samoa got a result here today but I can see Australia winning comfortably.

[thebrewxi]

Just spoke to my plumber and his team, getting a new bathroom fitted. Mentioned I was watching "the rugby" later with a few mates with projector on so I might not make a lot of sense later.

He, the boss, asked me which one, the men's or the women's, as he had a few things to do but he was definitely watching both. His two lads who were doing the work said they were hoping to get wrapped up in time to watch too.

Bearing in mind I live in deepest darkest worcestershire, this shocked me. I was deliberately vague about which "rugby" I was watching. I believe there is an England game on today too, but the lads didn't have a clue about that. They one cared about the world cups, and mainly the one that starts tomorrow. (They all watched the England samao game last week).

Basically, we need high profile, regular internationals on free TV. I appreciate this has been said before, but it's so obvious. All the games efforts should be geared towards that, but it isn't.

Come on NZ and Samoa

 

[Exiled Wiganer]

After the wheelchair victory, I am feeling slightly more upbeat about the tournaments. We desperately need Australia not to have a walk over. If they do, with V’Landys in charge, I wonder whether we will ever see England play them over here this decade. I am not sure we could even describe the NH men’s international game as being on life support. I suspect it was turned off last week. 

I hope Samoa win, but they won’t.

[Tippytoe]

11 hours ago, The Masked Poster said:

On reflection, I can totally understand the outpouring of support for Samoa, instinctively I support anyone against Australia.

But I suspect this will fire them up and create a bit of a siege mentality. 

Aldo-Carr is very unlikely to be as forgiving as the England wingers. He's actually part of the reason I'm going to go in the end, not seen such an exciting player for some time. 

Eddie Rombo would have had him in his pocket!