Samoa star Jarome Luai explains away his side’s shock 60-6 defeat to England
Toa Samoa halfback Jerome Luai, during the rugby league match between the Samoa and Fiji, during the Triple Header matches for the Great Britain Lions rugby league Tour & the Oceania Cup, held at Eden Park, Auckland. 02 November 2019 Photo: Brett Phibbs / www.photosport.nz /SWpix.com
Samoa secured their place in the World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday with a 62-4 defeat of France at Warrington Wolves’ Halliwell Jones Stadium.
For the Samoans, the performance and result was a million miles away from the debacle at St James’ Park which saw them beat 60-6 by England in a game they were favourites in.
After that triumph against France, star player Jarome Luai reflected on the performance on BBC: “Yeah it was good, we completed a lot of sets. The boys have done the simple things right.”
He also noted how good it was to see Taylan May return from injury and score four tries: “It’s good to see him back out there, good to see him get through most of the game okay.”
The stand-off also had to field questions on the transformation from that opening game to now and the Penrith Panthers star believed there was a clear reason behind his side’s defeat to England: “We had limited sessions before England and over the last few weeks we’ve had a lot of training sessions. Our combinations are gelled together. We’ll keep building.
“Since that game, I think we’ve turned things round really well.”
Lastly, he looked ahead to their huge quarter-final clash against Tonga this weekend: “It’s good to see them doing well, they’ve had a bit of success in recent years so hopefully we can give them a good run.”