Australia Beat Samoa 44-12 as Walsh Hat-Trick Sends Kangaroos Into World Cup Final

Australia beat Samoa 44-12 in the second men's Rugby League World Cup semi-final in Sydney on Sunday, November 8, 2026. The win sent the defending champions into the final against New Zealand.

Fullback Reece Walsh scored a hat-trick of three tries, his first international hat-trick. Walsh was chosen ahead of James Tedesco for the starting fullback spot and celebrated his first try with a backflip.

Australia took control in the first half

Australia led 26-2 at half-time. Tom Dearden, Jacob Preston, Tom Trbojevic, Walsh and Bradman Best scored tries in the first half. Samoa's only first-half score was an early penalty from Stephen Crichton.

Cameron Munster kicked six conversions for Australia. The match was played before a sellout crowd of 41,529 at Sydney Football Stadium.

Australia scored eight tries in total. Walsh scored three, with one each from Dearden, Preston, Trbojevic, Best and Jack Bostock. Samoa scored two tries, from Crichton and Izack Tago.

Walsh answered after his error

Early in the second half, an error by Walsh let Crichton score a try for Samoa. Walsh scored his second try about three minutes later. Tago crossed for Samoa on the hour mark. Walsh then completed his hat-trick to put Australia 38-12 ahead. Bostock scored Australia's eighth try late in the game.

Australia coach Kevin Walters praised Walsh after the match. AAP quoted Walters saying: "That's just Reece, he's always brings up something that you don't expect and the backflip was no different," and "Tonight was a really good performance. I still think there's a bit more in us too, so that's exciting." Walters added: "He probably didn't need to do that but he did it for some sick kids," referring to the backflip celebration.

Samoa left frustrated by decisions

Samoa made nine errors and gave away 12 set restarts or penalties. Prop Spencer Leniu was sin-binned for dissent late in the first half.

Samoa had a try disallowed in the first half for an alleged knock-on in the build-up to a Walsh try. A second try was ruled out in the second half for contact between Francis Manuleleua and Liam Martin. Samoa were left fuming at the refereeing decisions, Sky Sports reported.

Samoa coach Ben Gardiner said: "On the back of some of the penalties that were given, we just didn't react very well on the back of it," and "Then it was one thing into another and then a try, so it made it really difficult to be able to fight back from that."

Final against New Zealand on November 15

Australia will play New Zealand in the final on Sunday, November 15, 2026 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. BBC listed the final kick-off at 08:35 GMT. New Zealand beat Tonga 34-10 in the first semi-final on Saturday.

The semi-final was a repeat of the 2022 World Cup final, which Australia won 30-10 against Samoa. Australia are the defending champions and have won the past three World Cups.