Mate Ma’a Tonga star prop forward Andrew Fifita has moved on from the controversy of his team’s loss to England in the semi-final of the 2017 Rugby League World Cup in Auckland on Saturday night 25 November.

"Look, that's football," Fifita told an NRL correspondent following the game.

"There is going to be controversies, there's going to be everything, I take it on the chin. It is what it is.”

The controversy regarded a call from the referee Matt Cecchin, whose decision refuted what would have been a dramatic game winning try by Andrew Fifita in dying seconds of the match.

With ten seconds left on the clock, Fifita broke an English tackle and made a run for the try line which was only metres away from him. During the run, Fifita lost the ball from what appeared to be an illegal strip from an English defender. Fifita quickly regathered the ball to score a would be try just as the siren was sounding. Matt Cecchin however, ruled that the ball had been dropped forward and blew the whistle without going to the video referee.

Despite the loss, Fifita stated that nothing could diminish what Mate Ma’a Tonga had achieved at the World Cup.

"Nothing can take away from what we have done. We have rocked the world. We have taken our little nation to places."