Samoa scored four tries but threw away several other chances through lack of composure with the try line open during their 27-20 win over the United States Eagles in a Pacific Rim clash at Apia Park Saturday.
Samoa led 14-3 at half-time in their first ever test against the Eagles thanks to converted tries by centre George Leaupepe and winger Brian Lima.
Though relieved to win coach Bryan Williams said: "I think we made hard work of it. We bombed lots of tries."
"And I felt a bit sorry for our wingers there today because they were thirsting for work and for one reason or another we didn't give them enough good ball," said Williams.
Lima worked hard on defence and in looking for opportunities, like fellow winger Afato Sooalo on the other flank, slicing at midfield to set up Leaupepe's try and engineering one for himself with his characteristic step and speed.
But mishandling and rushed, unthinking passes cost the Samoans more points as well as creating stoppages that made it easier for the Eagles to compete at the resulting slower pace.
"There were times when we could have just delayed our pass and put people into space but too often we tried to throw that 50-50 ball before it was necessary," said Williams.
"You know there were probably five, six tries went begging. It could have been a really comprehensive victory by 50 or 60 points."
The Eagles' scrum was in constant trouble from the Samoans, but recovered well from a screwing scrum to drive over for a try.
They also exposed defence weaknesses around the fringes taking advantage of one such gap for replacement forward Juan Grobler to run in a fine solo try.
But the Eagles also had their share of handling errors which led to several promising moves breaking down.
The Samoan backs showed glimpses of their abilities with strong running notably by Va'aiga Tuigamala who took the field to replace injured John Schuster early in the game.
The Teams:
Samoa: 1 Fosi Pala'amo, 2 Tani Fuga, 3 Brendan Reidy, 4 Lio Falaniko, 5 Lama Tone, 6 Craig Glendinning, 7 Sene Ta'ala, 8 Pat Lam (c), 9 Stephen So'oilao, 10 Stephen Bachop, 11 Brian Lima, 12 George Leaupepe, 13 John Schuster, 14 Afato So'oalo, 15 Mike Umaga
Reserves: Inga Tuigamala
United States: 1 Ray Lehner, 2 Tom Billups, 3 George Sucher, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Alec Parker, 6 Dan Lyle (c), 7 Richard Tardits, 8 Shaun Paga, 9 Britt Howard, 10 Mark Williams, 11 Andre Blom, 12 Tini Saulala, 13 Mark Scharrenberg, 14 Brian Hightower, 15 Vaea Anitoni
Reserves: Chip Curtis, Kevin Dalzell, Juan Grobler, Dave Hodges, Bill LeClerc, Tasi Mo'unga
Referee: Ian Haideley (Canada).
Points Scorers:
Samoa
Tries: Leaupepe G.E. 1, Lima B.P. 2, So'oalo A. 1
Conv: Bachop S.J. 2
Pen K.: Bachop S.J. 1
United States
Tries: Grobler J. 1, Lyle D.J. 1
Conv: Dalzell K. 2
Pen K.: Dalzell K. 1, Williams M.A. 1
No comments:
Post a Comment