For Samoa, a second consecutive World Cup ends with defeat to Australia, having been beaten 30-10 in the final four years ago.
The two nations have met six times, with Australia winning all six times.
But this one hurt even more. Samoa clearly felt they could win, as their ultra-aggressive pre-match Siva Tau war dance proved – speaking directly into Australian faces, even forehead to forehead in some cases.
But they were left aggrieved by some questionable refereeing decisions, including two disallowed tries – Crichton in the first half and then Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow disallowed 10 minutes from time after contact between Manuleleua and Liam Martin was ruled illegal.
This came to light shortly before the break, when Spencer Leniu was booked for dissent by Australian referee Adam Gee.
“You saw the game. You report on it,” was Samoa coach Ben Gardiner’s terse response to questions about the decisions.
As for whether his team paid the price for a lack of discipline, he said: “I’m not entirely sure.
“Because of some of the penalties that were given, we just didn’t respond very well. It was one thing into another and then a try. It was difficult to be able to fight back after that.
“And then being down 18 points, 20 points at halftime, to come back to that…I thought we did well in the second half to fight back.
“But then again we scored a try and immediately conceded another. We bounced off too many tackles early in the half, missed too many tackles in the game in general.
“It has nothing to do with emotion. It’s a test match, that’s what you do. It’s physical, there’s pushing and shoving, hold on.”
Gn sports
