Four Nations 2014: England out as Australia beat Samoa

Greg Inglis brought his Four Nations try tally to four

England's hopes of reaching the Four Nations final came to an end after Australia swept past Samoa to secure their place in the decider against New Zealand.

Steve McNamara's side's hopes rested on Samoa winning by eight points or less.

But that never looked likely against the Green and Golds, especially after Cooper Cronk went over for the first try in the opening minute.

He completed a double while Greg Inglis also scored twice.

The physical Samoans were punished heavily for lack of discipline, conceding five penalties in the first 15 minutes, but full-back Tim Simona pulled a try back and replacement hooker Pita Godinet had one disallowed as they briefly rallied.

However, stand-off Daly Cherry-Evans went 70m from a scrum to score Australia's fourth try and prop David Klemmer took the short route seven minutes before the break for his first Test try, with captain Cameron Smith kicking his fourth goal, to put the outcome beyond doubt.

Stand-off Ben Roberts, who will play for Castleford in 2015, and captain David Fa'alogo added further tries for the Samoans as they improved in the second half and Tim Lafai kicked his third conversion.

But Cronk claimed his second try and prop Josh Papalii and winger Josh Mansour both touched down in the last five minutes as the Kangaroos finished in total control with Cherry-Evans converting after taking over the goal-kicking duties from Smith.

Australia: Inglis, Mansour, Jennings, Walker, Mata'utia, Cherry-Evans, Cronk, Woods, Smith, Papalii, Thaiday, Bird, Parker. Replacements: Cordner, Hunt, Klemmer, Jackson.

Samoa: Simona, Winterstein, Lafai, Leilua, Vidot, Roberts, Stanley, Liu, Masoe, Fa'alogo, Pritchard, Ah Mau, McGuire. Replacements: Lui, Maitua, Sue, Godinet.

Referee: Gerard Sutton (Australia)