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Wales and Samoa do battle at Waikato Stadium this afternoon in a huge match crucial to deciding the outcome of Group D. Join us from the commencement at 1.30pm AEST for live scores and a blog.
The winner of this will go a long way to determining who will progress to the knock out stages of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and both teams will be up for a big match.
Wales come into this one knowing it should be they who sit atop Group D after an agonising 17-16 loss to the Springboks last Sunday, in a performance commentator Matt Burke labelled one of the best of the tournament.
Backing up off their upset win over the Wallabies earlier in thie year, Samoa put in a good performance against Namibia in round one, dominating 49-12 victory and will be full of confidence.
Indeed, they’ve been a bit of a bogey side for Wales in Rugby World Cups, upsetting the Welsh on two previous occasions.
Wales will look to dominate this one in the forwards, particularly off set pieces, and their front row of Paul James, Huw Bennett and Adam Jones will provide a strong platform in this respect.
This should enable the backline, that had begun to look good against the Springboks, good go forward to let the likes of the evergreen Shaun Williams cut loose.
The Samoans will want to get the ball out to their wingers, especially Alesana Tuilagi to cut through the Welsh defence.
Their backrow in Ofisa Treviranus, Maurie Faasavalu and George Stowers will be trying to replicate the ruck-and-maul turnovers that they achieved against the Wallabies.
This match will more than likely decide who progresses through to the knock out stages and finish 2nd in the pool, and the loser will know they’ll almost certainly be going home at the end of the pool stages.
Therefore, the stakes simply couldn’t be higher, and with big bodies on both sides this one is certain to produce some hard-hitting rugby.
This game is very hard to predict a winner – on rankings you would have to say Wales will win, but this tournament has shown that rankings mean nothing.
Passion, heart and skill are the things that win games and both the teams will have these in abundance, and this one could genuinely go either way.
Join us from 1.30pm AEST for live scores and a blog as this eagerly anticipated Pool D match unfolds. This is an interactive blog, so leave your thoughts on the action below!
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.