Kangaroos face Samoa in Sydney for a place in the World Cup final
Australia and Samoa meet in the second men's Rugby League World Cup semi-final on Sunday, with the winner going on to face New Zealand in the final. The match is at Allianz Stadium in Sydney and kicks off at 8.05pm local time, which is 9.05am GMT. The final is scheduled for Brisbane the following weekend.
The Kangaroos, as Australia's men are known, arrive as the team that finished top of Pool A. Their group campaign ended with a 66-6 win over Cook Islands in Townsville on 31 October, a result that put them through to the semi-finals. Rugby league is played by 13 players a side, and the pool stage is a round-robin where the top teams move on to the knockout rounds.
Samoa's route was tighter. They lost narrowly to Tonga, and that result sent Tonga into a semi-final against New Zealand. Both Tonga and Samoa had been counted among the heavyweights of the tournament before that match, so Samoa's place in the last four still came after a hard group run.
One of the more talked-about selection calls concerned the Australian number one jersey. Reece Walsh kept the shirt ahead of James Tedesco, the veteran fullback, for this match, as Guardian Sport reported when the teams were named. The number one is the fullback, the last defender and often the player who joins the attack from deep. Keeping one player in that role is a clear statement of form and faith.
Tickets have been hard to find. The Rugby League World Cup's official NRL coverage describes the match at Allianz Stadium as sold out, and says Australian viewers can watch on Channel 7 or 7plus. Fans without a seat can follow it there, or through the live blog that Guardian Sport is running from the ground.
For anyone new to the sport, the basic idea is simple. Teams have a set number of tackles to move the ball forward, and the team in possession fights to keep it. Most of the drama tends to come in the middle of the field, where players collide and the defence tries to slow the ball down. A semi-final adds a layer of pressure, because one mistake can end a tournament. The team that loses this match goes home. The winner gets a final against New Zealand.
Australia's women also reached the knockout stage of the tournament's women's competition earlier this autumn, having beaten Samoa 40-0 on 16 October. That result is part of the wider picture of the two nations, though the men's semi-final is the match on everyone's mind this weekend.
Kick-off is in the morning for UK fans, so the early start is worth planning for. Sunday's match in Sydney will decide who meets New Zealand in Brisbane, and that is the simplest way to follow the story from the first whistle.
