Tough Samoan defence and punishing tackles paved the way for a 43-10 victory over South Africa at St Albert Rugby Club in Edmonton.
Following through on their gameplan for the match, the Samoan forwards came up hard and set up clean rucks, allowing their agile back line to run through the South African line throughout the match.
Samoa got on the board early in the match, opening the scoring from a penalty tap to Lorina Papalii, who opened a hole for Anita Kerrigan to burst through, touching down after a 10-metre run for a 5-0 lead.
South Africa threatened to score after a string of good runs from each team and a huge burst from wing Yolanda Meiring. Samoa’s defense was too quick, however, and a turnover gave Samoa control again.
Deep in South African territory, Samoan hooker Alaisalatemaota Leavasa took a tapped ball from a lineout and set up a ruck. Winger Jessica Saolele drew in the defence, clearing the way for Papalii to dot the ball between the posts. Standout player Valuese Sao Taliu’s conversion was successful, making it 12-0 Samoa.
Another try from Kerrigan and one from Jessica Saolele left the score 24-0 at half time.
South Africa got on the board shortly into the second half, when inside center Marie-Lee Erasmus evaded a tackle to dive across the line to make it 24-5.
Samoa answered back when Taliu’s huge run put them within South Africa’s 22. An offside penalty for Samoa opened the space for Rona Mulitalo to dive over the line. Taliu’s conversion put Samoa ahead 36-10.
A final effort from Samoa saw Taliu charge through the middle yet again. A popped pass to Leavasa in contact resulted in a try to end the game, 43-10. Samoa move on to play for ninth place on Saturday, against Spain, while South Africa will fight for 11th with Kazakhstan.
Quotes
Samoan Coach Davida White: “For today’s match we wanted to tone up our defence and play with structure. We achieved most of our goals but were still disappointed that we let through some tries. We are happy but not satisfied with the win.”
Samoan Captain Ainslie Sauvao: “I think there was a little more structure than previous games. I thought our patterns and sequential plays improved in the last few games and that was our goal. We want to always improve from previous games. Our forwards did very well setting the platform for our backs to play some good hard, attacking rugby.”
Samoan fullback Valuese Sao Taliu: “Our gameplan was to have territory and test their midfielders and that’s what we did. We just drew the pass and that’s all.”
South Africa Coach Dobela: “This is our first year we came to the world cup, not knowing how physical the other teams were. We need to improve a lot more the physicality of our players.”
South Africa Captain Nomsebenzi Tsotsobe: “We’ve been trying to make a statement. It’s our first time coming here and we are trying our best to always be in their faces, each and every team we play against. That’s what we did today.”