Kiwi Ferns Secure World Cup Final Berth With Dominant Win Over Samoa

The New Zealand women's rugby league team secured a place in the World Cup final following a 32-0 victory over Fetu Samoa at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, New South Wales. Playing in blustery and difficult conditions on Saturday afternoon, the Kiwi Ferns controlled the match and capitalized on early opportunities to earn their seventh successive appearance in the tournament's showpiece game.

New Zealand opened the scoring within the first two minutes when winger Mackenze Wiki crossed out wide following a Samoan handling error. Despite an error-marred first half in which the inexperienced Samoan side held significant field position and created the better of the early chances, Fetu Samoa failed to convert their opportunities into points before halftime.

Dual-code international Stacey Waaka extended the lead for the visitors by scoring three tries during the fixture. Waaka's first came after she reacted to defensive indecision from Samoa winger Mercedez Taulelei-Siala to gather a kick from Raecene McGregor. Waaka added her second five minutes into the second half from another precise kick by McGregor, before completing her hat-trick during a late flurry of scoring.

The defending champions of the early tournament era, New Zealand added four tries in the final 12 minutes of the contest. Alongside Waaka's three scores, McGregor, centre Mele Hufanga, and back-rower Kaiyah Atai also joined the tryscorers list, while Kiria-Ratu contributed two goals.

Despite the final scoreline, the match featured bright spots for Samoa, including a dominant performance from lock forward Fanua Rimoni and a nerveless international debut by teenage winger Anastasia Leatupue. However, handling errors and missed attacking opportunities limited their scoring potential.

With the win, New Zealand will advance to next weekend's final in Brisbane. They will face the winner of the semi-final match between Australia and Fiji as they look to secure their fourth world title.