Australia received eight penalties to Samoa's four and had one more set restart, 4-3, in their 44-12 win.
World Cup-winning halfback Shaun Johnson criticised the officiating on Channel 7, while acknowledging Australia's performance. "I don't want to take.anything away from what the Aussies produced but I can't help but have this frustration around how the game was officiated," he said.
Johnson said referee Adam Gee made errors and that Australia benefited from close decisions. "They (Australia) just got every little call and he (Gee) wasn't.supported by Chris Butler in the Bunker."
He said he understood that referees could make mistakes, but objected to decisions made with video technology available. "What I can't understand is going to someone who has all the technology at their disposal and overturning a call or giving an explanation on a call. That's just incorrect."
Johnson said Samoa's ill-discipline had hurt them, but felt the team had been treated unfairly. "They did not get a fair shot through some of these calls."
He ended by saying, "Very frustrated at the officiating. I will say that, but Samoa needed to be better at how they handled it."