Junior Paulo leads the Siva Tau pre-game at Emirates Stadium.

Samoa have emphatically qualified for their first Rugby League World Cup final with a thrilling golden point win over England, and star centre Stephen Crichton has already taken aim at Penrith Panthers teammate Nathan Cleary.

It will be something of a reunion during the final, with Cleary, Liam Martin and Isaah Yeo on the Australian side - who beat New Zealand in their own thrilling semi-final yesterday - to take on teammates Stephen Crichton, Brian To'o, Jarome Luai, Taylan May and Spencer Leniu in the final next weekend at Old Trafford.

It was Crichton himself who pinched the semi-final from the grasp of the home side on Sunday morning (AEDT) with a field goal in golden point to secure the 27 points to 26 victory.

Speaking to the media after the game, Crichton promised there would be no friends on the field when it came to playing against Cleary.

"It's going to be awesome, we are competitors through and through," he said.

"It's going to be a battle against one of my boys, but out there - there's no friends on the field.

"There are only brothers and enemies and I'm always going to look at it the same way.

"We grew up in the same comp but we haven't played each other on a real high (level)."

The win over England for Samoa saw an incredible bounce back from the opening day of the World Cup, when the same tournament hosts hammered Samoa, running up 60 points.

Samoa have since defeated Greece and France during the group stage, before managing to get past Tonga in another nailbiter last weekend during the quarter-finals.

Australia, by comparison, have had a far easier time of things with three straight wins during the group stage before a resounding win in last weekend's quarter-final over Lebanon.

They were pushed all the way by New Zealand in the semi-final, but have ultimately qualified for their 15th World Cup final in the 16th edition of the tournament, where they will compete for their 12th World Cup victory.