Manu Samoa stunned the rugby world by beating the Wallabies in Sydney just a couple of months ago.
They've been on the sidelines watching all of the favourites play in the RWC up until now.
And Samoa may have been thinking that no other team seems all that intimidating.
If they can come out and put on a cricket score against Namibia today then they could make a whole lot of people (myself included) take their chances more seriously.
Holy smokes! They announce their intentions right from kickoff. Little halfback Kahn Fotuali'i takes the ball all of the way up the right touchline in implausible fashion. He scores the best individual try of the tournament thus far, and the game isn't even a minute old. What a try!
A great conversion by the superbly named Tusi Pisi makes it 7-0.
The Namibians are rattled here. They kick the restart out on the full, and then defend wave after wave of attack for many more minutes.
A penalty is conceded and Samoa are doing this Pisi! 10-0.
The terrifying thing about all if the Pacific teams is that when they tackle they seem to delight in hitting their opponents as hard as possible. The Samoan defence looks even meaner than what we've seen from Fiji and Tonga thus far.
By the 15 minute mark the poor Namibians look so wary on attack they want to give the ball away before they get tackled. The Samoans are irresistible on attack and soon the left winger Alesana Tuilagi scores another ripper try.
The conversion... too Pisi 17-0. This could be a bath.
Tusi Pisi isn't just place kicking well, he is running this game superbly well. This could be the best game by any first five in the tourney thus far... albeit under little pressure.
Pisi makes it 20-0 with his 2nd penalty and 4 kicks from 4 attempts at the 24 minute mark.
DISASTER for Samoa 27 minutes in. Tusi Pisi makes a great break and almost scores a try, but picks up an injury. He has been the best player on the park, and while they look ready to account for Namibia today, they will want him for the rest of the tournament. It's his hamstring, what a pity. He was completely commanding this game.
To their credit the Namibians aren't shirking their role in this game. They start putting in some harder hits of their own, but it is like trying to swat away a locomotive. Tuilagi scores an incredible bullocking try, he reminds me of Via'aga Tuigamala in scoring this try. He kind of propels himself at the line like a rocket from 10 meters out. 3 defenders try and slow him, but they just bounce off him.
All Black great BeeGee Williams' son Paul is the new Samoan kicker, but he misses, 25-0. All Samoa here. Then Williams blots his copy book further and is yellow carded on half time. He was dismissed for a dangerous tackle, but to be fair to him it wasn't in any way malicious - it's just that Samoans hit like wrecking balls.
Namibia's one shot at credibility is to try and score in the first ten minutes of the second half while Williams is off the park. If they can't manage this, we should see a comprehensive victory to Manu Samoa.
Second Half.
Namibia don't score while Williams is off, and when he returns at 50 minutes it is goodnight nurse.
Alesana Tuilagi completes the tournament's second hat trick, then Williams makes amends for his indiscretion and the score is 42-0 at 3/4 time.
Poor Namibia conceded the other hat trick too, when bullocking Fijian winger Vereneki Goneva bagged four against them. I hope for their sake that Tuilagi doesn't know this because if he starts to try harder then they are in big trouble!
Then Namibia score a great try against the run of play! Danie Van Wyk scores after a great chip 'n' chase by Llewellyn Winkler. They've avoided the down trou and deservedly so. 42-5 after 65 minutes.
With 10 minutes to go Manu Samoa smash the Namibian scrum, and collect a penalty try. A fair decision by the ref - the Namibians collapsed the scrum when a try was certain. 49-5, and the tournaments first half century beckons Samoa
It is not to be. Namibia seem determined to score again and find the resolve to pound away at the Samoan line for the remainder of the game - it is amazing what pride will do. Theuns Kotze scores the final 7 points of the match, following numerous phases of Namibian attack.
The final score of 49-12 is a fair reflection of Manu Samoa's dominance, but also Namibia's endurance.
9 games 49 tries.
Tweet of the match - "Despite the score, Namibia has been a delight to watch. Great character & fight in the face of a losing battle" @alistairjhogg
No comments:
Post a Comment