The Rugby League World Cup has finally arrived with England and Samoa kicking the tournament off on Saturday afternoon at St James’ Park in Newcastle. Here is a past look at all the previous meetings between England and Samoa.
The last time the two sides met was five years ago on May 6th 2017, in a friendly match ahead of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup.
England, then coached by Wayne Bennett, travelled to the Campbelltown Sports Stadium looking to put themselves in a strong position months ahead of the World Cup.
England started strongly as Ryan Hall opened the scoring inside three minutes.
Luke Gale added a penalty before the half hour mark and Gale also converted Stefan Ratchford’s try which put England into a 14-0 lead at the break.
Samoa struck back early in the second half through Joey Leilua, however their moment was halted when hooker, Josh Hodgson went over for a score.
Anthony Milford crossed for a second try for Samoa. But two late tries from James Graham and Jermaine McGillvary cemented the 30-10 success.
Samoa and England faced off in 2014 in the Four Nations in Brisbane.
47,813 watched the contest at Suncorp Stadium and they saw England open the scoring through Michael Shenton.
Samoa struck back soon after with two quick tries from Isaac Liu and Daniel Vidot to put them ahead before the half hour mark.
Centre, Kallum Watkins hit back for England. His try was converted by Gareth Widdop, who added a penalty on the stroke of half-time to put England 14-10 ahead at the break.
Wigan Warriors’ second rower, Liam Farrell extended the English lead.
But two tries in the space of six minutes by Pita Godinet handed Samoa a slim advantage with just 19 minutes remaining.
England keep back through tries by brothers Sam and Joel Tomkins; both were converted by Widdop as England help on to a 32-26 victory.
The first ever meeting between England and Samoa was at Hull FC’s MKM Stadium in November 2006.
The match was part of the Federation Shield as both sides were looking to book their place in the final where they would face Tonga, who beat France.
Chris Ashton scored a first half try, meanwhile Ryan Atkins added a brace after returning from injury as England led 16-8 at the break.
Atkins completed his hat-trick, meanwhile Ashton added a second half score as well. David Hodgson and Jamie Rooney also added tries during a strong England performance as the home side raced to a 38-14 win.
Head-to-Head Record:
- Played: 3
- England Wins: 3
- Samoa Wins: 0
- Draws:0
- Biggest Margin of Victory: England 38-14 Samoa – 5th November 2006
