Samoa’s Steven Luatua in action against England at the Rugby World Cup. Photo: Photosport
Samoa coach Seilala Mapusua said it was no coincidence that his team showed their best form in their fourth match in Sunday's 18-17 defeat to England but it was their struggles earlier in the tournament that condemned them to an early World Cup exit.
Samoa, who had never beaten England in eight previous attempts, were leading with seven minutes to go until a converted Danny Care try rescued the 2019 runners up after a poor display.
"That was a tough one," Mapusua said.
"Proud is an understatement, we were pretty dominant in most facets. I thought we were able to expose some space, we managed to assert our game and stop England's game - until about 70 minutes.
"I thought we deserved more today but there is a lot to look at in terms of getting here and our preparation. Once we're here it's not a coincidence that we are playing our best by the fourth game. We need to look at our programme internally and on the global scale so we can have these tough matches against Tier One teams. There is a lot of work to do."
Samoa came into the tournament in a an upbeat state of mind after pushing Ireland all the way in a 17-13 defeat in their final warm-up game.
They looked a little rusty in dismissing Chile 43-10 in their opening game and then went down without much of a fight 19-10 to Argentina.
The big blow, however, was losing 28-22 to Japan when a red card for Ben Lam early in the second half left them up against it.
"Reflecting on it I've seen a win and two great performances but two games where we should have been better," said Mapusua.
"We've shown that with a bit more time together we can be pretty confident at this level. But that's a resource we don't have with players scattered across the globe."
Samoa had two tries disallowed, unusually one of them after the conversion was taken, and Mapusua said he has long felt that match officials have an unconscious bias against Tier Two teams when playing Tier One rivals.
"I've asked the question in the past if there is unconscious bias... I believe there is, there has been in the past," he said.
"I don't think it's anyone's fault, it's just what I've seen in our game for the last I don't know how many years."
England will benefit, says Borthwick
England coach Steve Borthwick believes the Samoan challenge was just the test they needed ahead of the quarter-finals.
It was a below-par showing as a Danny Care try seven minutes from fulltime earned England an 18-17 victory they scarcely deserved, but was enough to complete four wins in Pool D and momentum going into a likely knockout game against Fiji.
"First things first, immense credit to Samoa, they played brilliantly, like it was their World Cup final. They forced us into a lot of errors," Borthwick said.
"But looking to next week, we wanted a tough test and we got it. There were lots of errors and scrappiness. But the players got hold of it on the pitch and found a way to get the result.
"We were put under pressure and there were periods where we weren't of the required standard."
England will know their quarter-final opponents on Sunday when Fiji play Georgia, needing a point to finish second in Pool C ahead of Australia.
Borthwick won't allow himself to think about that just yet but thinks England have proved they can prove their critics wrong.
"It's highly likely we face Fiji but we are preparing for all eventualities. A lot has been said about this England team and what they do in tough circumstances. You see a team now who finds a way, that never stops," Borthwick said.
"Some of these players have been written off quite badly, some said we wouldn't get out of group stage, but I always said we would be ready - the big players perform on the big stages."
First five-eighth Owen Farrell kicked three penalties to break Jonny Wilkinson's record for most England points in tests, moving to 1187.
"Not too many thoughts about that, it's a massive honour to be around long enough to (break the record). The lads gave me a framed picture in the changing room which was nice," Farrell said.
There was one unusual moment for him against Samoa when he became the first kicker at the World Cup to go past the 60 seconds allowed to take a shot a goal, and his effort did not count.
"I was unaware, I didn't see the clock and got lost in the kick. But it's not good enough and luckily it didn't cost us," he said.
- Reuters