The Silver Fern

Final score Samoa 34-30. Good game in an absolute mud pit. Conditions probably suited Spain more but Samoa showed some good resolve when going behind to grind out the win.

@DaGrubster There's a lot of guys in that side that do play for Moana Pasifika and others that played a bit at NPC level, but they weren't even regulars down at NPC level and a fair few of those Moana players aren't regulars for them either. So there are a fair few familiar faces to NZ viewers, but yeah, a lot if them ain't test level. It's a fairly weak Samoan line up, so this result is huge, and as for the heat factor, Italy were the ones camped on the Samoan try line for a lot of the 2nd half, and a lot of these Samoan players play in NZ anyway, unlike the Drua who are a proper Fiji based side made out of locals mostly.

I must say, Samoa's results against 6 nations opposition in the last 9 months or so has shown massive improvement. They could easily have won against Ireland and England and competed well against Argentina at the world cup as well to go with a big upset against Italy today.

It shows the benefits of having Moana Pasifika playing in a professional comp.

@antipodean said in RWC Week 5: England v Samoa:

I can not believe the TMO came in after the conversion attempt to rule out that try when Itoje's hand is clearly on the ball.

If I was Mapusua I'd blow up deluxe. It's not even like England were arguing about it.

@Dodge said in RWC Week 4: Japan v Samoa:

I may have confused which incident you were talking about to be fair. I thought you were talking about the yellow not being upgraded. Apologies

No apologies needed

I thought the TMO was good but let himself down by not upgrading the YC to RC

You've informed me that the TMO doesn't make that decision, which I didn't know

So I guess what we're saying is 'Hitler' in his bunker fucked up but Jaco and the TMO had a great match

The full time score was Black Ferns XV 38 - 12 Manu Sina XV

Samoa had the players to easily win that and should have. They seem to be incredibly poorly coached and not at all in unison.

This game made to look bad by a poor tmo who seemed to be desperate to take centre stage. Fernandez and Dittus looked good for Chile but Samoa just too sharp.

@African-Monkey said in RWC warmup - Ireland v Samoa:

Ireland lucky. If Samoa had a line out, they win that game. Having said that, McFarland was clearly played at in the air in that last line out. Should have been a penalty.

Samoa defence was immense and they exposed the Irish in a few areas tonight, defended against them in general play better than the ABs last year.

Ireland not as good as they and the public in general think they are.

How were Ireland lucky? It was pissing rain which suited Samoa who were happy to play kick chase. They're a bigger, heavier side and played the conditions well. Ireland are a light side who like to move the ball.

Samoa got a lucky try.

For the lineout the same thing was happening the irish lineout throughout.

Still baffles me why that try wasn’t awarded to the Barbarians.

Must’ve been the heat but that was a scrappy game with plenty of basic errors etc. Great to see so many former Super/AB’s in action.

Not a good first half from Samoa. Looked well off the pace. All the changes they made seemed to disrupt things, which having said that, should give them a fair idea moving forward on who their best side is.

Radradra was a handful at 12.

Could have and should have won even with 14 men

That better?

In possession, under little pressure

Perfect position and opportunity for a drop goal for the win

Forgot to post the FT score:

##spoiler
Romania 0 - 22 Samoa
##endspoiler.

All points scored in the first half.

Good game from Samoa. Dominating in the first half, and did well stopping Romania from scoring when they became a bit more adventurous in the second half.

They now get an attacking structure, which was non existing in a recent past. Garbisi is an excellent 1st five, he is controlling the game very well. What they lack is a power runner up front. Is Polledri still injured ?

Cool to see Mike Umaga as a halftime pundit.

The Cook Islands might fancy their chances against Tonga.

Taulani needs to start next Sat.

@arhs said in NZ Maori v Manu Samoa II:

Falealii and the Samoan loosies were also impressive in my view. Fomai superb throughout

The Samoan loosies were good. I think they were helped a bit by the Maori selection though. Four locks in the 23 and no specialist loose forward cover. The player they could least afford to get injured was Harmon.. so of course that's what happened

It's strange to think back 2-3 years ago when the Maori were struggling to find any locks. Now they don't know who to leave out