Treviranus scored a battling try and Tusi Pusi kicked four penalties as Samoa stayed comfortably ahead of the U.S. throughout the game in Brighton.
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“With the pool being wide open from yesterday, these points are important”, Eagles coach Mike Tolkin said.
The Samoans kept their notorious physicality within the bounds of the laws, and the USA , world-ranked three places below their opponents who are in 12th, attempted to evade the big hitters, with Takudzwa Ngwenya twice lifting the neutrals to their feet with second-half sprints – one down the wing, the other diagonally across the pitch.
But first they must overcome the United States, whom they beat 21-16 in the Pacific Nations Cup in July.
If the fare was Japan-lite then Samoa might now be fancying their chances of winning the Group of Life.
The intensity of that game in front of a near-sell out crowd, just short of 30000, will have gone a long way to making inroads for rugby on the south coast of England, leaving the Americans and Samoans under pressure to deliver similar drama to keep up the momentum.
Speaking about his team’s representation, Falcons Director of Rugby Dean Richards said: “There’s a degree of pride and satisfaction”.
“We were solid, powerful, we controlled the match, but we had difficulty getting quick balls (and) we tried some impossible passes”, Saint-Andre said. You know you’re in the spotlight, and it’s pretty unique for us. They’re playing a pattern of rugby that will work – we will win and lose but the level of competition among the Tongan games and their rivals will be pretty good. “But it was important to win today to get into the competition”. “This is a very big wake up call”. It leaves the Eagles as fifth favourites out of five in Pool B. Pisi’s clever change of direction and grubber kick was seized on by Nanai-Williams, before Wyles finished a breakout led by MacGinty.
Meyer watched powerless as the most experienced starting Springboks XV ever turned out were harried into errors.
Brighton’s Amex Stadium had barely stopped reverberating following Japan’s historic success over South Africa less than 24 hours earlier.
Samoa’s Cardiff Blues-bound Rey Lee-Lo was an early casualty, taking a massive hit from opposition centre Thretton Palamo to bring his World Cup debut to an end after less than a minute.
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“History!” screamed Japanese media nearly universally, while the Nikkan Sports daily noted that Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling had tweeted that not even she could have conjured up such a magical plot twist.
