Australia will face New Zealand in the final of the inaugural World Cup nines after defeating Samoa 25-8 at Bankwest Stadium.
After New Zealand beat England 22-6 to claim their spot, Josh Addo-Carr scored arguably the try of the tournament in Australia’s 17-point win on Saturday.
With the Kangaroos leading 7-4 late in the first half, the Melbourne flyer scooped up a bouncing Kalyn Ponga try from in front of him, grubbered as he went over the sideline and raced to get the ball down.
It helped open the floodgates for Australia, as AJ Brimson and Tyson Frizell scored bonus-point tries in the second-half romp.
Marion Seve scored both of Samoa’s tries, with his first coming off a cut-out ball from forward Bunty Afoa that went half the width of the field.
Australia’s win came after Jamayne Isaako sprinted to the top of the try-scoring lists with his fifth and sixth of the tournament in the Kiwis’ semi-final win over England.
The dominant flyer of the tournament, Isaako shapes as the biggest threat to Australia in Saturday night’s decider.
Ken Maumalo also crossed off a virtual 200m play for the Kiwis’ first after England broke all the way down field before making an error and Maumalo went 100m to score.
The result ended an inconsistent tournament from England, who were shocked 16-13 by Lebanon in Saturday’s early matches and then had to rely on other results to advance.
Meanwhile Lebanon’s fairytale run ended in farcical scenes, with two players banned from facing Wales in their last match less than an hour before kick-off for being underage .
A deflated Cedars side were then beaten 25-14, knocking them out of the tournament after they also had points stripped for fielding one of the 17-year-olds against France.
Under NRL rules, players must be 18 to take the field but international laws have dictated the minimum age is 16.
The nines is an international event run by the NRL and it’s believed team management had been warned on Thursday the players were too young.
Earlier, Tonga and Fiji had been the tournament’s great disappointments, with the latter’s golden-try win over their Pacific rivals the only victory either team had in the competition.