Samoa moved into outright second in their pool at the Rugby World Cup, with a 27-7 win over Fiji in front of a sell-out crowd at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday.
Samoa’s win was built on their solid scrum, an efficient lineout and the ability to keep Fiji’s defence scrambling on the back foot for much of the match.
They controlled the pace of the game well, and Tusi Pisi’s return from injury to marshal play at five-eighth had a huge impact.
Pisi’s intelligent tactical kicking meant Samoa played their rugby at the right end of the field, and his place kicking kept the Samoan scoreline ticking over.
Three penalties and a dropped goal gave Samoa a 12-0 lead at halftime, but they remained tryless for the first 40 minutes.
It took Fiji a good 30 minutes to finally build some continuity and establish some field position, but they came away with nothing to show after inside centre Seremaia Bai missed his only penalty chance of the half.
Fiji had their best passage of play early in the second half, pounding the Samoan line for phase after phase, but came away empty-handed as Samoa’s well-organised defence held strong.
After an hour without a try from either team, the match finished with three in the last 20 minutes, halfback Kahn Fotuali’i and No.8 George Stowers crossing for Samoa while flanker Netani Edward Talei picked up Fiji’s sole try of the game.
Samoa’s 10 points leaves them four astray of the table-topping South Africans in Pool D, who they meet in their final pool match in Auckland on Friday.
Fiji and Wales are tied on five points apiece, and Wales will be expecting little trouble when they meet winless Namibia on Monday.
A win over Fiji in the last match of group play next Sunday will lift Wales above Samoa into second place.
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