Samoa cops ‘enormous’ blow as Tonga takes crown in Pacific Islands duel
Tonga has shown the grit to be in the race to win the World Cup, serving up a cruel last-minute blow to defeat Samoa 20-18 shortly after a rival star was injured.
Chanel Harris-Tavita will be sent for scans in the coming days to determine his fitness after he pulled his hamstring while attempting a conversion.
Harris-Tavita will be sweating on scan results. Getty Images
The star playmaker’s injury came when Samoa were trailing 14-8 as he tried to silence the roaring Tongan crowd in front of him and narrow the gap on the scoreboard when he immediately bent down in pain. Trainers were quick to signal to the sideline that his time on the field was over.
“This is enormous news,” ex-Kangaroo Corey Parker said on Seven.
Ronald Volkman was injected into the fiery game in place of Harris-Tavita, with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow firing over the tryline to turn the game on its head.
PNG-bound Jarome Luai engineered a short-side overlap to open the path for Sua Fa’alogo to run freely before he flicked the ball out to Tabuai-Fidow to do the rest. But like Harris-Tavita, Volkman missed the conversion.
Chants of ‘Tonga, Tonga, Tonga’ began to quiet down as Volkman made up for his failed conversion attempt and muscled over the tryline from close range. A successful conversion marked the first time Samoa had led in the match.
But just as it seemed momentum had swung in favour of Samoa, Tonga hit back via Addin Fonua-Blake to steal back the lead, 20-18.
Sualauvi Fa’alogo looked to have saved the day and sealed Samoa’s spot in a thriller semi-final against the Kangaroos with minutes left on the clock, but his try was denied due to stepping into touch.
Earlier, the noise of the crowd only elevated the intensity of the players on the field, with tensions flaring up early between both nations middles.
Junior Paulo had landed a damaging hit on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, who leapt back to his feet and laughed off the incident, but that was not a reaction shared with his teammate Haumole Olaka’atu, who was quick to ignite a push and shove with his Samoan rival.
The small scuffle did not result in any punishments for either team but certainly set the tone, with Watene-Zelezniak later bursting over the tryline only for his efforts to be denied by the Bunker as he ran into touch before reaching the corner.
Jojo Fifita went over the line minutes later but was also denied as he knocked the ball on.
Tonga are through to the semi-finals. Getty Images
And while Watene-Zelezniak tried to rectify his efforts and dive over in the corner again, he was held back by the desperate Samoan defence. But a bump and offload by Haumole Olaka’atu opened the door for Robert Toia to pounce.
The Tongan centre weaved his way around Samoa’s defence, passing Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow with ease before striding under the posts to score.
A successful conversion followed by a penalty goal nailed by Isaiya Katoa following a slow peel by Samoa gave Tonga an eight-point lead as they neared half-time.
But minutes before the siren sounded, Jarome Luai put in a kick that bounced around the hands of several players from both teams before eventually falling into the empty path in front of Brian To’o to finish of the job.
“That is rugby league pinball,” Seven caller Andrew Voss described.
The score sat at 8-4 by half-time with Tonga holding on in the end.
Post-match, Jason Taumololo described the game as “probably one of the best matches I’ve been a part of”.
Tonga will now face New Zealand on the Saturday and the Kangaroos have Samoa on Sunday.
