England are bidding to make history at this Four Nations – but went perilously close to making it for all the wrong reasons in their first outing. Since the Tri-Nations was expanded to add a developing nation, in 2009, none of these minnow countries has managed a victory. But Matt Parish’s freewheeling, passionate Samoans led England 10-6 and 22-20 before tries by the Tomkins brothers, Joel and Sam, saved the day.
England’s aim is to win a series involving Australia for the first time since the 1970 Ashes series, when they played as Great Britain. They now face Australia next Sunday in Melbourne in a vital match for the hosts.
“We’ve got a brand new team, we’ve travelled from one side of the world to the other, we’ve had nine days to get ready, they were pretty extreme conditions for an Englishman out there,” said Steve McNamara, the England coach, in reference to 30C-plus heat. “We had to dig ourselves out of some bad places to get the win. It sets the team up to improve over the coming weeks.”
James Graham, who filled in as captain for the injured Sean O’Loughlin, said: “This isn’t an excuse but we’ve been together a week less than the other teams.”
Samoa became the first of the “fourth nations” to get closer than 22 points to a rival during a vibrant and entertaining opening match of the Brisbane double-header.
But Parish believed the referee, Gerard Sutton, and the video referee, Henry Perenara, erred in awarding a crucial try to Joel Tomkins in the 64th minute. The ball came off Michael Shenton before Tomkins crossed and Parish referred to the touchdown as “the one that was a knock-on … every day of the week in the NRL”. He added: “I don’t even know why we went to the video ref.”
Positives for McNamara include an industrious debut for the Gareth Widdop-Matty Smith partnership at half-back and one of the best first-touches in Test history for Super League Man of Steel Daryl Clark. The Warrington-bound hooker picked up the ball from acting half and sliced through the defence to set up a 21st-minute try for Shenton. He was bent awkwardly in a tackle right on half-time and the ensuing penalty allowed England to extend their lead to 14-10.
Liam Farrell’s score six minutes after the resumption seemed to signal England getting on top but a Samoan side full of NRL and Super League experience would not yield. Wakefield hooker Pita Godinet scored twice to send a group of about 10,000 Samoa fans seated at the northern end into raptures. Then came the Joel Tomkins try, and Perenara overruling Sutton on Sam Tomkins’s effort when replays showed the ball bouncing off his chest before he regathered to dot down.
Clark was confident he had not sustained a serious injury despite being bent in two. Smith left Suncorp Stadium in a surgical boot after twisting an ankle and Graham believed a knock to the cheek had not caused structural damage.
ENGLAND: S Tomkins; Charnley, Watkins, Shenton, Hall; Widdop, Smith; G Burgess, Hodgson, Graham, Farrell, J Tomkins, Westerman. Interchange: Clark, Ferres, T Burgess, Hill.
Tries: Shenton, Watkins, Farrell, J Tomkins, S Tomkins. Goals: Widdop 6.
SAMOA: Simona; Winterstein, Leutele, Leilua, Vidor; Roberts, Stanley; Tagataese, Sio, Fa’alogo, Pritchard, Ah Mau, McGuire. Interchange: Godinet, Sene-Lafao, Lui, Masoe, Lui.
Tries: Liu, Vidot, Godinet 2, Winterstein. Goals: Stanley 3, Roberts.
