Junior Paulo Escapes a Ban and Will Lead Samoa Against the Kangaroos in Sunday’s Semi-Final
Samoa captain Junior Paulo is free to play Australia in Sunday’s World Cup semi-final. He accepted a warning with an early guilty plea for his shoulder charge on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak in the 20-18 loss to Tonga, 7NEWS reported.
The charge was Grade 1, which carries a warning rather than a suspension. Samoa play the Kangaroos at Allianz Stadium in Sydney at 8.05pm AEDT on Sunday.
The hit that started a scuffle
It came in the first 10 minutes at CommBank Stadium, with Tonga 10 metres out from their own line. Paulo came off the line and flattened Watene-Zelezniak. Tonga players rushed in, Haumole Olakau’atu ended up grappling with Jazz Tevaga, and referee Adam Gee had already blown his whistle.
“The shoulder is back! It is outlawed and boy oh boy it came from a blind spot for Watene-Zelezniak,” Andrew Voss said in commentary on Channel 7. Luke Keary: “He might be in trouble here. Big Junior, he’s just collected him there. What a shot.”
Tago and Harris-Tavita
Centre Izack Tago was not charged either, Yahoo Sport reported. In the 57th minute he appeared to kick Watene-Zelezniak after the Tonga winger was tackled into touch, and the referee and the Bunker both missed it.
Five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita did not recover from the hamstring injury he picked up early in the second half. Samoa named Ronald Volkman in his place on Tuesday, their only change, the Guardian reported. Samoa scored four tries to Tonga’s three and still lost, because they landed only one goal to Tonga’s four.
“That’s one of those things that happens in rugby league,” coach Ben Gardiner said. “But I’m very happy with the level of performance, the intensity and the way we went about our business.”
Kiwis not so lucky
The same judiciary list was harder on New Zealand. Ronaldo Mulitalo took a one-match ban for his high tackle on Fiji’s Ronald Philitoga and misses Saturday’s semi-final against Tonga in Newcastle.
Our Tonga v Samoa match report has every try from Sunday night, and the World Cup table shows how Samoa still went through in second place on points difference. England went out on the same night: how England missed the semi-finals.
