Walsh's Hat-Trick Powers Kangaroos Past Samoa 44-12 Into World Cup Final

It took Samoa three minutes to take the lead in Sydney. It took Australia about four more to take it back, and from that moment on the semi-final belonged to one man in green and gold.

Reece Walsh had been the selection story of the week. Coach Kevin Walters picked the Brisbane fullback ahead of James Tedesco, the veteran, the safe pair of hands, and plenty of people wondered whether the gamble would hold up on the biggest night of the tournament so far. By full time nobody was wondering anything. Walsh scored three tries, set up another, and celebrated the first of them with a backflip in front of 41,259 fans at Allianz Stadium. Australia won 44-12, and the Kangaroos are going back to a World Cup final.

Samoa actually started the night ahead. Stephen Crichton landed a penalty goal in the fifth minute after Australia were caught offside, and for a brief moment the underdogs could dream. Then Tom Dearden dummied his way through from a scrum to score the opener, and the game tilted. Jacob Preston barged over in the 14th minute. Tom Trbojevic crossed for his eighth try of the tournament. Walsh danced through, Bradman Best crashed over for his first Test try, and by half time it was 26-2. Samoa had made nine errors and given away a dozen set restarts or penalties, and prop Spencer Leniu was in the sin bin for dissent after taking his frustration out on referee Adam Gee.

Give Samoa this much: they did not fold. Crichton scored a try of his own early in the second half after Walsh spilled a high ball, and Izack Tago slid over in the left corner on the hour to make it 32-12 and get the Samoan flags waving again. Twice they punched back. Twice Walsh answered within minutes, first with a short ball from Harry Grant that he powered through Crichton, then with a sweeping team try that started on Australia's own side of halfway and ended with him completing his first international hat-trick. Jack Bostock added the eighth try late on, Cameron Munster kicked his sixth conversion, and the final was booked.

The numbers tell their own story. Eight tries to two. A half-time lead of 24 points that Samoa never got close to closing. A Samoan side that had beaten England to reach this stage and carried real belief into the night, undone by its own discipline as much as by Australia's class. They also had two tries ruled out, one for a knock-on in the build-up and one for contact on Liam Martin, and they will feel some of the calls went against them. But the gap on the scoreboard was not about the officials. It was about the team that took nearly every chance it created and the team that kept handing the ball back.

For Australia, this was their most complete performance of the tournament, and it came at exactly the right time. They have now won the past three World Cups in a row, and next Sunday at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane they will chase a fourth straight title against New Zealand, who beat Tonga 34-10 in the other semi-final on Saturday. It is the final the tournament wanted, the two best sides, the old rivalry, one more game for everything.

Walsh will carry the headlines into that week, and rightly so. A hat-trick in a World Cup semi-final, picked ahead of a legend, playing like he owned the occasion. Samoa's dream is over, but Australia's is one win from becoming a dynasty.