Samoa lived up to their reputation as RWC entertainers, scoring a bagful of tries -- including two from flanker Maurie Fa'asavalu -- to beat Uruguay by 60-13 in Perth.
It was a fairly satisfactory start to the tournament for the Islanders and will give them huge confidence ahead of the "David v Goliath" pool battles to come against South Africa and England, although they will need to make vast improvements around the set-piece if they are to cause an upset on the scale of the one they dished out in Wales back in 1991.
Their scrum and line-out were just about adequate against their heavier South American opponents, but it was the Samoan's mastery of broken-play situations which helped them rack up their mighty tally of points.
At times, it was almost like watching a game of Sevens, as a succession of Samoan runners stepped out of first-up tackles, pinned their ears back and scored from long-range without a hand being laid on them by the opposition.
It was a different story when they were tied up in the middle of the field by Los Teros, whose static upperbody strength and efficent mauling techniques helped keep the scoreline down.
The Samoans were also undone at times by their lack of discipline, particularly in diving off their feet at the ruck. They were also the recipient of the only yellow card in the match, wing Lome Fa'atau earning censure from the referee in the dying moments for an illegal challenge on a Uruguay player.
Samoa were on the all-out attack from the very kick-off, fly-half Earl Va'a signalling his side's intentions by standing flat and firing out several bullet-passes to his strike runners out wide to make some early incursions into Uruguayan territory.
Uruguay battled on, harrying their opposition and forcing several turnovers of possession. The South Americans also had some success with the kick-and-chase game, hoofing the ball forward to create some disarray in the Samoan ranks, but could not match their oppponents for sheer rugby skill and attacking pace.
The South Americans also managed to piece together some excellent continuity play in the dying minutes of the match, although in truth the match was well beyond their reach by then.
It took a while for Samoa to hit their stride, rustiness or opening match nerves causing them to make several unforced errors in the handling stakes.
But when their gameplan did click into place, Uruguay were left clutching at shadows as a moment of individual genius saw Samoa open their account, flanker Maurie Fa'asavalu breaching the first line of defence just outside his own half and then putting on the after-burners to score some 40 metres downfield.
Va'a missed the conversion, but with Samoa on song there was to be no respite for Uruguay and just a few minutes later, the South Americans' defence was again stretched to breaking point. As Samoa attacked down the right, the scoring pass was given to centre Brian Lima, the veteran of four World Cups making no mistake to touch down.
Uruguay were hit by another blow in the 24th minute, Sailosi Tagicakibau making a delightful pick-up down by his bootstraps, the winger barely missing a beat before racing off downfield for his side's third try.
From there on, Samoa were on their way to full points after racking up 10 tries against their opponents, and after this opening engagement will relish the chance to test their sinews against the bigger fish in their pool.
Man of the Match: Some excellent work from Uruguay's Rodrigo Sanchez, Rodrigo Capo and Emilian Ibarra, particularly in the first half, but it was Samoan fullback Tanner Vili who was the class act of the match, his invention in attack and solidity under the high ball making him a key man in the victory.
Moment of the match: Rodrigo Capo's first-half try. Despite looking down for the count after a flurry of first-half tries from Samoa, Uruguay struck back just before the break with an excellent score from Rodrigo Capo, the burly No.8 crashing over in the left-hand corner to score Los Teros' first try of the tournament. The sheer joy on Capo's face was a sight to behold.
Villain of the match: While their brave players would never utter a word of complaint about the RWC schedule, it is pretty disgraceful that a minor nation like Uruguay found themselves facing both South Africa and Samoa within the space of four days.
The Teams:
Samoa: 1 Jeremy Tomuli, 2 Jonathan Meredith, 3 Kas Lealamanu'a, 4 Leo Lafaiali'i, 5 Opeta Palepoi, 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 7 Peter Poulos, 8 Semo Sititi (c), 9 Steven So'oialo, 10 Earl Va'a, 11 Lome Fa'atau, 12 Terry Fanolua, 13 Brian Lima, 14 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 15 Tanner Vili
Reserves: Dominic Feaunati, Des Tuiali'i, Simon Lemalu, Mahonri Schwalger, Denning Tyrell, Kitiona Viliamu, Dale Rasmussen
Uruguay: 1 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Diego Lamelas, 3 Rodrigo Sanchez, 4 Juan Alzueta, 5 Juan Carlos Bado, 6 Nicolas Grille, 7 Marcelo Gutierrez, 8 Rodrigo Capo Ortega, 9 Juan Campomar, 10 Bernardo Amarillo, 11 Carlos Baldassari, 12 Diego Aguirre (c), 13 Martin Mendaro, 14 Joaquin Pastore, 15 Juan Menchaca
Reserves: Juan Alvarez, Nicolas Brignoni, Juan Machado, Jose Viana, Ignacio Conti, Joaquin De Freitas, Juan Andres Perez
Attendance: 22020
Referee: Mchugh d.
Points Scorers:
Samoa
Tries: Vili T.A. 1, Fa'atau L.M. 1, Lima B.P. 2, Tagicakibau S. 1, Palepoi O. 1, Fa'asavalu M. 2, Lemalu S. 1, Feaunati D. 1
Conv: Vili T.A. 2, Va'a E.V. 3
Uruguay
Tries: Lemoine P.A. 1, Capo Ortega R. 1
Pen K.: Aguirre D. 1
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