Fetū Samoa sprung back from their first-up loss to Australia last weekend to claim their first win at the Rugby League World Cup, thrashing Wales 76-0 in Sydney on Friday night.
They created history in the process, recording their highest win at a world cup.
A dominant first half set the pace for the Samoans, who ran in seven tries in the first 35-minute spell to lead 40-0.
That was topped off by an almost faultless goal-kicking by playmaker Pauline Piliae-Rasabale, who kicked six out of the seven conversion attempts she took.
In the end, the Samoans had piled on 14 tries to nil, 10 of which were converted.
Captain Evania Isa’ako said post-match the team played well and deserved the win.
“Really proud of the effort the girls put in tonight,” she said.
“All our debutants that debut at this world cup, really proud of them.
“They really put their best foot forward.”
Player of the match Amber Hall said they had worked hard after the loss to Australia.
“I guess after last week we worked pretty hard to get here today and the girls put it on and how good.
“It’s been pretty good; we had talked about all the women that had come before us.”
Having been unable to score a single point against the Jillaroos in round one last weekend, the Samoan women turned on the firepower in the first 10 minutes of Friday’s clash.
Two early mistakes ruled by the referee meant Samoa did not complete their first two sets.
But once Laikha Clarke crashed through to score close to the left post after a good Samoa attack in the seventh minute, the floodgates opened.
Piliae-Rasabale kicked the conversion and Fetū Samoa were up 6-0.
Wales tried to piece moves together but it was ruthless from the Samoans who just kept applying the pressure, showing power and strength from their forwards and an entertaining backline that ran the ball at every chance.
Samoan forwards Annetta Nu’uausala, Mary-Jane Taito, Laikha Clarke, Leilani Wilson, Ivana Lolesio and Tavarna Papalii kept the ball tight and ran through the Welsh defensive line, setting up play deep inside their opponents’ half.
One such move in the 12th minute saw Piliae-Rasabale feed Tyra Ekepati, who stepped in and out before diving over the line in the right corner for the team’s second try.
Then it was Destiny Mino Sinapati’s turn two minutes later before Ekepati got her second for the night.
Amber Hall of the Sydney Roosters, playing her third World Cup, burst her way through after coming off the bench, to score Samoa’s fifth try, before the 2026 NRL-W Rookie of the Year, Newcastle Knights’ Mercedez Taulelei-Siala, dotted down for her try in the 31st minute.
Hall was the provider again in the last seconds of the first half, running through the Welsh defensive line, before setting up Ivana Lolesio for the team’s seventh try, as Samoa led 40-0 at the breather.
Dominance continues
The second half saw Wales getting some possession early, trying to get some territorial gain.
But Samoa’s defence stood out, keeping Wales in their own half.
They went straight back to where they left off in the first half, with captain Isa’ako, a former World Cup winner with Australia, picking up the ball and diving over the line to claim her try.
Hall was at it again a few minutes later with another strong run through, before she offloaded to Monica Tagoai, who stepped in and dived over to score Samoa’s ninth try.
The try of the match would have been Sinpati’s second, after she had collected the kick from Wales near Samoa’s tryline before running through from one end of the field to the other to score.
Then it was Taulelei-Siala’s turn to claim her second for the night, after Nu’uausala ran through the defense and offloaded.
Eighteen-year-old Freedom Crichton Ropati scored her first try for Samoa with 11 minutes to play after she finished off another Samoan attack.
That was followed by 19-year-old Ekepati, who finished off another exciting Samoa move, before Tavarna Papali’i sent the Weslh defence the wrong way with her dummy and ran over to score her team’s final for the night.
Samoa dominated the run metres, recording 2,136m against Wales’ 596m.
They held 64 per cent of possession.
