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Kangaroos forwards Liam Martin and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui could be banned for the World Cup final after they rocked New Zealand with shoulder charges which left commentators bemused and Kiwi fans fuming.
The epic semi-final at Elland Road will be remembered as one of the most intense clashes at international level of all time with Australia and New Zealand producing a high-octane 80 minute performance which featured several lead changes and brilliance in attack and defence.
However, the hits by Martin and Fa’asuamaleaui were questionable at best and the World Cup match review committee will scrutinise whether they should cop bans before next weekend’s final against the winner of the England vs Samoa semi.
Australia emerged victorious 16-14 on the back of a Cameron Murray try in an otherwise scoreless second half after the Kiwis held a 14-10 advantage at half-time.
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Fox League analyst Cooper Cronk said “a couple of class plays from the Australians got them the win”.
(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images for RLWC)
Martin hit Kiwis prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona with a shoulder charge in the 59th minute which forced the ball loose and led to a melee involving several players from each team. At one stage Martin was being roughed up by Panthers teammate James Fisher-Harris as club loyalties were set aside but no punches were thrown.
He made another hit on JFH a few minutes later which looked to have no arm wrapping motion which could also earn a sanction from the match reviewers.
The Fa’asuamaleaui incident happend in the 65th minute when he launched his right shoulder into Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad as he tried to ruck it out from his own line.
“After the earlier ones maybe they feel as if they’ve got the green light. We thought the Martin shot on Asofa-Solomona probably was (a shoulder charge) and they think well if we can get away with that, let’s try our luck with another one,” Fox League commentator Andrew Voss said.
“It’s certainly not a conventional tackle if you want the arms going in. They’ve disguised it well.”
(Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images for RLWC)
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga said it was great to see top-class Test footy back on the biggest stage after more than two years being lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was fantastic. That was Test match football. It was good to have it back. We had to fight hard. New Zealand, they threw everything bar the kitchen sink at us and I thought we handled it really well,” he said.
“I thought we used our skill a lot better tonight. We created plenty of opportunities, they created plenty of opportunities. Scrambling defence, desperation, commitment, all those characteristics you want in Test match footy came out tonight.
“It’s right up there (as one of the best Tests), there’s no doubt about that. It was a great challenge for both sides. I thought both sides handled it really well. It was a great advertisement for the game.
“We’ll have a review on our game, I certainly think we can play better.”
On the match itself, Voss summed it up superbly at full-time.
“World Cup, world stage, world class. Both teams, an effort that was worthy of being rewarded with a finals appearance,” he said.
Kiwi forward Brandon Smith, who was exhausted after not being interchanged, paid the price for being slow in defence in what turned out to be Murray’s match-winning try and Cronk said that was what cost the New Zealand in the end.
“He just didn’t get off the line at all,” Cronk said. “Brandon Smith, for a guy who moves and accelerates on every play, he was caught on his heels and was resting. He’d been playing for long minutes. He was tired and he basically just cost the game a little bit there because Cam Murray just went through where he should have been standing.”
Kangaroos centre Latrell Mitchell said the team had put “a lot of effort and sacrifice to come over here”.
“We left our families six weeks ago to achieve something, our collective goal and we’re one step away from achieving that,” he said.
“For me it’s something to tick off, I didn’t come over to the other side of the world to not achieve that. The job’s not done.”
New Zealand coach Michael Maguire was visibly moved and said “there’s a fair bit of emotion at the moment” in his camp when interviewed soon after full-time.
“Moments in games, they win you Test matches and unfortunately we just didn’t capitalise on a couple of them there,” he said.
“We can’t look back, the result’s the result. One thing I do know is the boys have closed the gap on where we’ve been and where we are as a group now. It could have gone our way but unfortunately the bounce of the ball in that corner there was there (to decide the game).
“I’m really proud of my players. I’m abslutely gutted for them.”
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