Samoa Races Past USA in Men's RWC 7s Round of 16

09.09.2022

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Samoa put away the USA in the Men’s bracket of the Rugby World Cup 7s, beating the Americans 40-12 in the Round of 16 in Cape Town.

USA captain Stephen Tomasin called the game “disappointing” and “embarrassing” and summed it up succinctly: “We’ve been training well and had quite a bit of confidence coming into this game and we were right in it but in that second half, we lost a few kick-offs. In sevens, if you don’t have the ball it is hard to stay in the game.”

Tomasin refused to get drawn into talking about the lineup but this was not a team that was at its peak in terms of continuity or experience. With Kevon Williams, Joe Schroeder, and Folau Niua out injured, they were under a lot of pressure. Meanwhile, Samoa has been on-form.

“I have a lot of respect for Samoa,” said Tomasin, and so he should. “They’ve been really good all season long, in the top four or five teams in the world, and they showed that against us; they were clinical when they had the ball in the second half."

But restarts were the problem. The Eagles usually is good at winning restarts and launching from there. This time it was Samoa who won the ball and scored … repeatedly.

The opening sequence saw Samoa get the ball and then lose it. The USA was able to work the ball side-to-side, but quickly it was apparent how experienced interior backs can time the pass to set free the big runners. Samoa defended well, got the ball inside their 22, and then a dummy and cut up the middle from Paul Scanlan created a try from 85 meters out.

The Eagles replied with some impressive running in traffic from Perry Baker and Aaron Cummings, and that left David Still unmarked on the other side. Here is where experience factors in, and Tomasin sent a perfectly-weighted pass to put Still in at the corner. Samoa 7 US 5.

With halftime looming both teams were working to disrupt the other. Several knock-ons and well-managed advantage calls kept the play moving, but Samoa got a break when they weren’t called for a penalty—Baker slid down on a kick and wasn’t allowed to get up, which is a penalty. Samoa got the penalty and cut through to score.

The USA was now down 14-5 and needed the ball. They got it. After losing the ball on the restart, Cummings forced a penalty, and from the lineout got another penalty where they took the scrum. Halfback Naima Fuala'au took the ball left. He had support but Samoa swatmed him so he took the tackle, the ball was recycled quickly, and Cummings passed to Tomasin, who charged between two tacklers to score. Tomasin his the difficult conversion and it was 14-12 and everything was possible.

The rest of the game was all Samoa.

Scanlan burned the Eagles up the middle. Then right off the ensuing restart Vaa Apelu Maliko got the ball and kicked over the top, racing in to tough it down. They won the restart again, and after a USA penalty Samoa tapped and Motu Opetai scored. Time was up but Samoa won the ball again and kept it and finally scored well past the hooter to twist the knife.

It was sobering for the USA. Their positioning wasn’t right, said Tomasin, and while there wasn’t a specific thing to fix, really it came down to timing the jumps right and being secure in the air.

“Really, there’s no excuse for it,” he said.

So now what?

“Now we play for pride,” said Tomasin. “We play for the jersey and the players who came before and for the fans. Winning 9th it really doesn’t mean anything, so we play for the jersey.”

USA 12
Tries: Still, Tomasin
Convs: Tomasin

Samoa 40
Tries: Scanlan 2, Matavao, Maliko, Opetai, Slater
Convs: Matavao 5