Samoa made their first appearance at the 2023 Rugby World Cup when they faced Chile on Saturday at the Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux. Samoa had to work hard in the first half to go into the halftime rest 19-10, however, a three-try blitz early in the second half by Samoa secured a bonus-point 43-10 win.
Samoa dominated the early exchanges in the first half and opened the scoring with a converted penalty by Christian Leali'ifano, however, Chile's Matias Dittus bulldozed his way over Samoa's tryline after six minutes of play to take the lead 07-03.
The rest of the first half was exciting rugby between two closely matched teams. Samoa converted three penalties to the one of Chile. Samoa led 12-10 with five minutes still to play in the first half.
Duncan Paia'aua stormed down the tryline to deservedly score Samoa's first try and extend Samoa's lead to 19-10 going into the second half.
Samoa exploded into the second half with Jonathan Taumateine crashing over after brilliant interplay and handling by Samoa. Samoa extended their lead to 24-10. Three minutes later, Fritz Lee scored from the back of a 5m lineout maul, which was followed by an exact copy when Sama Malolo scored from the back of a 5m lineout maul to lead 36-10.
Unfortunately, the last twenty-five minutes of play were spoiled by the number of penalties and cards dished out by the referee. Samoa scored a last-second try from yet another 5m lineout maul to secure a 43-10 bonus-point win during the first twenty minutes of the second half.
Scorers:
Samoa: Tries: Duncan Paia'aua, Jonathan Taumateine, Fritz Lee, Sama Malolo (2). Conversions: Christian Leali'ifano (2), Lima Sopoaga. Penalties: Christian Leali'ifano (4).
Chile: Try: Matias Dittus. Conversion: Matias Garafulic. Penalty: Matias Garafulic
Teams:
Samoa: 1 James Lay, 2 Seilala Lam, 3 Michael Alaalatoa (c), 4 Chris Vui, 5 Theo McFarland, 6 Taleni Junior Agaese Seu, 7 Fritz Lee, 8 Steven Luatua, 9 Jonathan Taumateine, 10 Christian Leali'ifano, 11 Nigel Ah-Wong, 12 Tumua Manu, 13 Ulupano Junior Seuteni, 14 Danny Toala, 15 Duncan Paia'aua. Replacements: 16 Sama Malolo, 17 Jordan Lay, 18 Paul Alo-Emile, 19 Sam Slade, 20 Sa Jordan Taufua, 21 Ereatara Enari, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Ed Fidow
Chile: 1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Tomas Dussaillant, 3 Matias Dittus, 4 Pablo Huete, 5 Santiago Pedrero, 6 Martín Sigren (c), 7 Clemente Saavedra, 8 Raimundo Martínez, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rodrigo Fernandez, 11 José Ignacio Larenas, 12 Matias Garafulic, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Santiago Videla, 15 Inaki Ayarza. Replacements: 16 Diego Escobar, 17 Salvador Lues, 18 Esteban Inostroza, 19 Javier Eissmann, 20 Alfonso Escobar, 21 Ignacio Silva, 22 Benjamin Videla, 23 Pablo Casas.
