Kangaroos hop into Four Nations Finals

The Australian Kangaroos have advanced through to the 2014 Four Nations Final against the New Zealand Kiwis with a dominating 44-18 victory over Samoa at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.

A strong 18,456 crowd watched on with a large Samoan fan base filled the eastern hill.

Australia squashed the Samoan's hopes early as Cooper Cronk sailed across the try line courtesy of a 50 metre line break from Kangaroos' rookie, Sione Mata'utia. Australia, 4-0 leaders after just two minutes.

Greg Inglis claimed Man of the Match honours as he bagged two tries for the Green and Gold. His first came at the 12th minute as an unbelievable play saw Inglis post points via an offload from Corey Parker. The Kangaroos jumped 10-0 ahead.

Wests Tigers' outside back, Tim Simona troubled the Kangaroos defence on a number occasions. At the 20th minute, he darted through some sloppy tackles to score. Samoa back within a converted, 12-6.

Australia's points raid saw a further three tries mounted to take a 28-6 lead into the half time break. Greg Inglis (26th minute), Daly Cherry-Evans (30th minute) and David Klemmer (34th minute) all crossed as the Samoan defence was unable to contain the fiery Kangaroos.

Samoa sparked up for a brief moment of life in the second half as they posted first points. Ben Roberts showed up the Kangaroos with some fancy footwork. Australia still ahead, 28-12 at the 46th minute.

Cooper Cronk fired again mid-way through the second half as the video referee awarded his points after he bolted under the Samoan defensive line. Australia out to a 20 point lead, 32-12.

David Fa'alogo was surprised when he found himself in possession from a bullet pass which saw him crash over almost untouched. A heated encounter immediately followed as Josh Jackson slapped Fa'alogo in the act of scoring. Samoa trailed 32-18 approaching the 70th minute.

Australia secured their place in the Four Nations Final with late tries to Josh Papalii and Josh Mansour as the committed, but tired Samoan defence fell away in the final minutes.

The focus now turns to the Final at Westpac Stadium in Wellington as the New Zealand Kiwis host the Australians on Saturday Night, November 15th.

AUSTRALIA (44)
Tries: Cooper Cronk (2), Greg Inglis (2), Daly Cherry-Evans, David Klemmer, Josh Papalii, Josh Mansour
Field Goals:
Conversions: Cameron Smith (4/6), Daly Cherry-Evans (2/2)
Penalty Goals:

TOA SAMOA (18)
Tries: Tim Simona, Ben Roberts, David Fa'alogo
Field Goals:
Conversions: Timoteo Lafai (3/3)
Penalty Goals:

TEAM NEWS: Australian Kangaroos - Robbie Farah, Aidan Guerra, Matt Moylan and Ryan Hoffman drop out of the extended side. Josh Jackson comes onto the bench with Boyd Cordner, Ben Hunt and David Klemmer.

TEAM NEWS: Samoa - Mose Masoe starts sending Pita Godinet to the interchange. Jesse Sene-Lefao and Tautau Moga not required off the extended bench.

Welcome to LeagueUnlimited's live coverage from WIN Stadium in Wollongong as the Australian Kangaroos host Toa Samoa. This clash can see either team advance to next week's Four Nations Final against the New Zealand Kiwis. Australia require a victory by any margin, while Samoa need a 9 point win to secure a place against the Kiwis.

The Samoan Rugby League side is out onto WIN Stadium, massive support for them on the hill with a sea of red and blue flags.

Now for the Kanagroos, kick off to follow National Anthems of both countries.

1: First half is UNDERWAY at WIN Stadium as the Kangaroos kick off to give the Samoans first use of the ball

1: Kick on the end of the first set is too long, 20 metre tap for the Australians.

2: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by Cooper Cronk. Kick to come.
Cooper Cronk has opened the scoring as the Australian bolted away from half way through Sione Mata'utia. Broken play as already seen holes in Samoa open up.

3: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith unsuccessful.
Cameron Smith with the conversion from wide out on the western side of WIN Stadium fails to add the extras

4: First penalty of the game against Joseph Leilua. Holding down in the ruck. The touch finder gives Australia possession at half way

4: Back to back penalties, Joseph Leilua again the offender. Knees in the ruck the call. Australia advances up to the 20m line

8: Penalty awarded to Samoa, follows a brilliant last tackle catch. Samoa kick up to the 30 metre line

9: Penalty to Australia, Frank Pritchard just hang the arm out on Josh Mansour. Australia kick to half way

12: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by Greg Inglis. Kick to come.
Greg Inglis has finished off an unbelievable four-pointer as the Kangaroos kept the ball alive on last tackle. Sam Thaiday basketballed over the top to Corey Parker who took a dive for the try line, but as he did managed to offload to Inglis who crashed over.

12: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Cameron Smith slots the extras from beside the posts and the Kangaroos extend their lead

13: Penalty to Australia, Joseph Leilua concedes his third penalty. Sin bin close for him as it's his third ruck incident

13: Daly Cherry-Evans fires a kick too long on last tackle, the ball ends up over the dead ball line. Samoa with a 20 metre tap

15: Penalty to Australia, Sione Mata'utia tackled in the air by Pritchard. Count 5-1 against Samoa

16: ZERO TACKLE for Australia. Samoa knock on at the try line. Kangaroos metres out

17: Penalty to Samoa, DCE misguided in attack. Strip is the call

18: Penalty to Samoa, Australia called offside. Samoa just 10m out now

19: VIDEO REFEREE for Samoa, Tim Simona has darted over. Obstruction review needed as the hole just opened up for him

20: TRY TOA SAMOA
Scored by Tim Simona. Kick to come.
Tim Simona has been given GREEN LIGHTS for his try as he opened up the Kangaroos line with a darting run through the defence. Australia concede from the penalty

21: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION TOA SAMOA
Conversion attempt by Timoteo Lafai successful.
Tim Lafai slots the extras with the conversion from in front without issue

21: Penalty to Samoa, Cameron Smith working over the arm in the ruck. Samoa advance to the 30 metre zone out from the Kangaroos try line

22: VIDEO REFEREE, it's NO TRY for Pita Godinet. Looking at grounding as he darted out

22: NO TRY for Pita Godinet and Samoa. Greg Inglis stopped the play, but back to 10m on last tackle

23: Time off here, it's on here… Walker coming through and taking out Antonio Winterstein as he attempted a catch on the kick

23: Penalty to Samoa, Dylan Walker taking out Winterstein. Samoa attack 20m out

24: Greg Bird defuses the last tackle kick, Kangaroos with it at the 30m line

25: Penalty to Australia… guess who… Joseph Leilua working over Jennings again. He is very lucky to be not in the sin bin

26: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by Greg Inglis. Kick to come.
Greg Inglis gets GREEN LIGHTS as he bolted into a hole created by Sam Thaiday as Cooper Cronk threw the sweep ball. Samoa's defence got tangled in the attempt at shut down of the play

26: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Cameron Smith with the conversion attempt extends Australia's lead to 10 points from out wide on the western sideline

29: UNFORCED ERROR TOA SAMOA
David Fa'alogo makes an unforced error.
David Fa'alogo has come up with a mistake in the ruck. Kangaroos with the scrum feed 30 metres out from their own try line

30: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by Daly Cherry-Evans. Kick to come.
Daly Cherry-Evans has thrown the dummy and bolted away down the eastern sideline and run 70 mertes almost untouched!

32: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Cameron Smith with the conversion from the eastern sideline slots the extras

32: Penalty to Kangaroos, Reni Maitua concedes for working over the ruck. Australia back on the attack 30 metres out from the Samoa try line

34: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by David Klemmer. Kick to come.
David Klemmer has strolled under the posts untouched off a bullet pass from acting half. Incredible try

35: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Cameron Smith adds the two points without issue from right in front of the posts

35: Tim Simona watches the long kick off the boot of Daly Cherry-Evans roll dead. 20 metre tap for the Samons

37: It was building for Samoa, but an awful pass sees the play ended. Change over Australia at the 20m line

38: UNFORCED ERROR AUSTRALIA
Michael Jennings makes an unforced error.
Michael Jennings has juggled the last tackle kick and Samoa has possession deep in their own half

40: HALF TIME sounds at WIN Stadium and the Australian Kangaroos are running over Samoa, 28-6

41: Second half is UNDERWAY as Samoa kick off

41: Samoa get the penalty, Tim Simona taken in the air by Greg Inglis. Samoa advance to 10 metre short of half way

42: UNFORCED ERROR TOA SAMOA
Pita Godinet makes an unforced error.
Pita Godinet unable to hold onto possession from a late offload. Scrum for the Kangaroos just before the half way line.

43: UNFORCED ERROR AUSTRALIA
Sione Mata'utia makes an unforced error.
Sione Mata'utia just unable to get hands on a bouncing kick as Tim Simona put pressure on him. Samoa with the 20 metre restart

45: ZERO TACKLE and penalty for Samoa. Count is now 7-all with Samoa on the Kangaroos' try line

46: TRY TOA SAMOA
Scored by Ben Roberts. Kick to come.
Ben Roberts with some fancy footwork as darted over for Samoa, get play from the Samoans to open up the Australian try line

46: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION TOA SAMOA
Conversion attempt by Timoteo Lafai successful.
Tim Lafai slots the conversion attempt to close the gap to 16 points

48: UNFORCED ERROR AUSTRALIA
Michael Jennings makes an unforced error.
Michael Jennings just managed to get a knock on of a Frank Pritchard shifting pass. Samoa with a scrum feed 10 metres short of half way

51: UNFORCED ERROR TOA SAMOA
Isaac Liu makes an unforced error.
Issac Liu is unable hold onto possession and the Kangaroos have possession deep in the Samoan half.

54: UNFORCED ERROR TOA SAMOA
Joseph Leilua makes an unforced error.
Joseph Leilua with a promising run is unable to come away with the good as he lost the ball attempting to fend. Scrum for Australia, 30 metre out

55: Penalty comes for a hold down from Sam Thaiday on Josh McGuire. Kangaroos attack 10 metres out

56: FORWARD PASS (by a good country mile) denies Sione Mata'utia. Daly Cherry-Evans attempting to provide the overlap pass but it doesn't stick for him

61: ON REPORT: Mose Masoe penalised for taking out Cronk. Australia with possession inside Samoan red zone

61: VIDEO REFEREE for Australia, Cooper Cronk may have scored. Possible double movement as he attempted to bounce over the line.

62: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by Cooper Cronk. Kick to come.
Cooper Cronk gets the GREEN LIGHTS as he managed to dive is way under the Samoan defence.

63: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith unsuccessful.
Cameron Smith with the conversion fails to extends the lead over Samoa from out wide on the sideline

64: UNFORCED ERROR AUSTRALIA
Boyd Cordner makes an unforced error.
Boyd Cordner has forgot how to catch, a drop ball from a short pass out of acting half.

65: Tim-connection doesn't come off as Simona's passes see Lafai thrown over the sideline. Scrum for Australia at their 10 metre line

67: Penalty Samoa, Cam Smith with a hand on the ball in the ruck. Samoa attack 10m out now

69: David Fa'alogo has scored but we are off to the VIDEO REFEREE after a push and shove

69: TRY TOA SAMOA
Scored by David Fa'alogo. Kick to come.
David Fa'alogo gets GREEN LIGHTS as he took a bullet pass and dived through the despite copping a hit from Josh Jackson.

69: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION TOA SAMOA
Conversion attempt by Timoteo Lafai successful.
Tim Lafai slots the conversion attempt and the points gap closes to 14

70: UNFORCED ERROR AUSTRALIA
Dylan Walker makes an unforced error.
Dylan Walker has fumbled the ball in an attempt of clean up off a last tackle kick. Scrum for Samoa 20 metres out

75: UNFORCED ERROR TOA SAMOA
Frank Pritchard makes an unforced error.
Frank Pritchard unable to hold onto possession as he charged up. Scrum for Australia near half way

76: VIDEO REFEREE for Josh Papalii. Looking at grounding as he reached out through a tackle of three Samoans.

76: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by Josh Papalii. Kick to come.
Josh Papalii gets GREEN LIGHTS as he managed to ground the ball under the defence of three Samoans on the try line

77: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Daly Cherry-Evans successful.
Daly Cherry-Evans with the conversion attempt in place of Cam Smith pushes the lead out to 20 points

78: TRY AUSTRALIA
Scored by Josh Mansour. Kick to come.
Josh Mansour has cleaned up a Ben Roberts mistake after he bolted away. Josh Mansour took a dart from the half way line and Samoa failed to cover in defence

79: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION AUSTRALIA
Conversion attempt by Daly Cherry-Evans successful.
Daly Cherry-Evans with the conversion from out wide on the sideline

80: FULL TIME at WIN Stadium in Wollongong has seen the Australian Kangaroos advance through to the Four Nations Final against the New Zealand Kiwis with victory over Samoa, 44-18.