Of World Cup glory little things are made. The USA Men’s National Team had it all together to beat Samoa, and didn’t do so. Why? Let’s look:

Samoa had a good game plan, which combined physical play and working the pick-and-names, and then exploiting the USA defensive push with grubber kicks. The kicks worked very well, leading to 13 points, including two tries.

Finishing. The Eagles still aren’t finishing off good backline attacks. Even the try they scored in the first half, while a great try, probably should have been simple hands to the wing. MacGinty’s dummy outside before passing to Kelly on his outside served only to help take space away from his support. Kelly cat back into traffic, and was fortunate to have Chris Wyles with him.

Meanwhile, Wyles had Ngwenya with space and passed behind his winger. Later, Ngwenya and Scully were open and didn’t get the pass. The dummy outside and cut back inside can work … if you pass outside once in a while.

Ngwenya had a break in the 56th minute and had support on his right (I think it was Wyles) but took contact. That could have been a try had he offloaded. Another long run from Ngwenya might have led to more had he used him support. 

Mistakes. Several kicks out on the full only handed the ball and momentum back to Samoa.The penalties give up were dumb ones - killing the ball when there’s no place to hide, Mike Petri jumping on the opposition scrumhalf at the base of the ruck when the ball is not out … this is basic stuff.

And you can see how damaging it all can be … after a long series of phases the Eagles were penalized for going straight down on the ball in the ruck. Kick, lineout, phases, grubber, try. Just like that.

Weird things. Early in the second half Thretton Palamo started a break that was ended when AJ MacGinty kind of, sort of, bumped into Seamus Kelly. Clancy called accidental offside, conveniently forgetting to note that Kelly was pushed into the contact, and Kelly, when it happened, immediately bound onto MacGinty. It was perhaps a technically correct call, but again a kind of call we don’t see ever in any other international game. 

Samoa popped a kick in the air and Kelly decided not to catch it, but tap it backwards … straight into a Samoan pair of hands. That was almost a try.

The referee. George Clancy’s penalties against the USA for collapsing the scrum were wrong - Samoa prop Anthony Perenise was obviously pulling the scrum down and wasn’t binding properly AND was boring in. In addition, Clancy called a very short advantage for the USA inside the Samoan 22, when the Eagles still had the ball and were attacking. In the second half he did the same thing - Eagles had the ball and were winning the ruck, and referee Clancy stopped play.

It went on. A high tackle call on Andrew Durutalo that would be ignored by 99% of international refs.

In the lineouts … well we at GRR World Headquarters fielded some complaints about his not-straight calls but we looked at it closely and saw little to complain about.

Finally, while this was late in the game, it was a big moment. The USA had the ball and was building something with the score 22-11. Instead an obstruction call on Al McFarland gave Samoa a penalty. Now, this call was just plain silly. A collision between players around the ruck happens all the time. It happened in the first half, when Samoa had the ball, and there was no call. Watch any game this tournament and you’ll see this happen and the ref will say nothing. To call a penalty on that was very damaging for the USA.

Tackling. The Eagles missed too many tackles. They were exposed a few times when having two slowish forwards together in the defensive line. They were not quick enough to the breakdown to ensure quick ball or to poach ball when on defense. Fewer missed tackles would have turned Samoa momentum more, and since Samoa kept kicking the ball out on the full, that might have been enough.

(Tackles Made, Samoa 109, USA 110; Tackles Missed Samoa 18 USA 29)

Notes: Blaine Scully left the game with what looked like a possible concussion. Obviously we can't diagnose that remotely, but he likely has been checked and we will see if he can go soon. It's a good possibility he will be held out of the September 27 game against Scotland.

Pool B is still wide open, with Japan in 1st, Samoa 2nd, South Africa 3rd, and the USA 4th. The Eagles missed a chance to get within seven points and thus get a close-loss bonus point. AJ MacGinty missed two conversions by small margins. Said Mike Tolkin: "With the pool being open, these results, and the extra points available, are extra important. It was disappointing that we didn't get those."

The Eagles missed Scott LaValla in this game. HIs ability to challenge ball legally in the tackle was sorely missed.

Scotland plays Japan on September 23 and then the USA on September 27. It now looks like a very difficult week for the Scots.