As Mal Meninga led England to a third consecutive Rugby League World Cup this time at the expense of Samoa at Old Trafford in front of 67,502 people, there were more than a few talking points.
Amongst the discussion around how England had failed to get to the big dance and Australia’s unrivalled dominance in the sport was a discussion around two key decisions which went against Samoa as they tried to upset the odds against Australia in the final.
The biggest was perhaps the decision to only show Angus Crichton a yellow card when he hit Chanel Harris-Tavita with a forearm.
After the game, Samoa boss described it as a “weak decision”.
He said: “We didn’t get much luck or bounces of the ball. There was a clear 40/20 in the first half and then our hooker gets elbowed in the head and carted off and the referee makes a weak decision and puts him in the bin.
“Elbow to the head and he gets taken off the field, what do you think?”
When Australia boss Meninga was informed of these comments about the incident, he said: “Seriously? My view was that he should have stayed on the field. We handled it really well. It was our best 10 minutes of the game, our defence, we just kept turning up for each other.”
The other decision, which Parish noted in the comment above, was the missed 40/20 early in the game.
When asked about this Meninga said: “It’s probably is something I shouldn’t comment on. We’ve just won the World Cup mate.”