Australia left stunned by Samoan power

Australia 23 Samoa 32:SAMOA'S VICTORY over Australia yesterday proved once again that when they are at full strength, the Pacific Islanders are a match for any team in the world. While not perhaps as much a dramatic breakthrough as their victory over Wales at the 1991 World Cup, the 32-23 win over the Wallabies at Sydney's Olympic Stadium will resonate far beyond their Polynesian home.

Wales have again been grouped with Samoa as well as South Africa, Fiji and Namibia for this year’s tournament and none of their rivals will be relishing the prospect of facing them in New Zealand.

The promise they displayed when last at full strength in Europe last November, when they almost drew with Scotland and ran Ireland close, was fulfilled on Sunday with a deserved victory over Australia, who are ranked second in the world.

“We had quite a good tour of the Northern Hemisphere last year and this was the first game when we had all our players back,” said assistant coach Brian McLean, known as “Aussie”. “Today was just about respect, we wanted to get some respect and hopefully we’ve done that.”

The big hits that Australia coach Robbie Deans described being in the “Samoan DNA” were, of course, much in evidence.

“It’s one of the attributes we rely on,” centre Seilala Mapusua said. “If it’s there for the taking, we get stuck in.”

Allied to that, though, was a resolute commitment to victory that ran through the team.

“Some of these boys grow an extra arm when they put this Samoa jersey on,” McLean said.

“They’re a few who play some 15-to-20 percent better than what they do when they perform week in, week out for their clubs. That’s what you want when you’ve got guys playing for their national team.”

While Australia lick their wounds and prepare for this week’s Tri-Nations opener against South Africa, the Samoans will now turn their attention to preparations for the World Cup, where they are hoping to play the Wallabies again.

“Our goal is to reach the quarter-finals and the way it’s set up, if we finish second in our pool and Australia win their pool then we meet in the quarter-finals,” McLean added. “We’ve kept a few things back,” he said with a laugh.

Mapusua said the support from their numerous compatriots in Sydney had been a massive lift and it is something they were also likely to experience in New Zealand later this year.

“We’ve always believed as a team that the Manu Samoa (Samoan rugby side) belongs to the Samoan people,” Mapusua said. “I can only imagine what’s going on in that little island a few hours from here,” he added, with a huge grin.

Samoa ran in four tries to stun Australia 32-23 in a famous and well-deserved victory.

The ragged Australians were simply outplayed by the Pacific Islanders, who complemented their usual hard-hitting defence with an uncompromising effort at the breakdown to record their first victory over the home side.

Alesana Tuilagi, Paul Williams, Kane Thompson, George Pisi etched their names into Samoa’s history books by scoring the tries with outhalf Tusi Pisi adding 12 points with his boot.

The ecstatic Samoans celebrated their victory as if they had won the World Cup itself.

The Australians scored a try in each half through winger Digby Ioane and outhalf Matt Giteau but were always struggling after the visitors had raced to a 17-0 lead.

“We got beaten in terms of the physical exchanges,” Deans said. “They defended strongly, they knocked a lot of ball out, they attacked the breakdown effectively and turned the ball over and profited from that.”

The Samoans dominated possession early on but their first two tries did come from turnover ball.

In the 11th minute, huge winger Tuilaga snared a loose ball inside his own 22 and, with no defenders in front of him, flew down the line, brushing off Giteau and touching down with an exuberant dive.

Some 18 minutes later, Williams charged down Australian scrumhalf Nick Phipps’s clearance kick and recovered to help extend the lead to 17-0.

Australia were stunned but looked to have wrested back the momentum when Ioane raced over after a five-metre scrum and Giteau penalties either side of the break narrowed the deficit to four points.

The Samoans were not done yet, though, and despite being down to 14 men after Daniel Leo was sin-binned towards the end of the first half, lock Thompson finished a rampaging move to edge the visitors further in front after 46 minutes.

Another storming Samoan attack less than 10 minutes later allowed centre George Pisi to inch over from close range for the fourth try and a 29-13 lead.

It was the skills of Scott Higginbotham which brought Australia their second try with Giteau profiting from his chip and chase to touch down in the corner.

With only nine minutes remaining and the Samoans scenting victory, it proved too little too late.

Skipper Rocky Elsom said that it was not a loss of the physical exchanges that had been most to blame for defeat.

“The thing that let us down was that we weren’t effective enough in attack,” said the former Leinster player. “Sure, there were some good shots and they deserved to win, but we weren’t good enough at what we did in attack.”

AUSTRALIA: Gerrard; Davies, Ashley-Cooper, McCabe, Ioane; Giteau, Phipps; Kepu, Moore, Alexander; Timani, Sharpe; Elsom, Hodgson, McCalman. Replacements: Vickerman for Sharpe (51 mins), B Robinson for Hodgson (50 mins), Beale for Gerrard (55 mins), Genia for Phipps (56 mins), Higginbotham for McCalman (59 mins).

SAMOA: P Williams; Tagicakibau, G Pisi, Mapusua, A Tuilagi; T Pisi, Fotuali’i; Taulafo, Schwalger, Perenise; Thompson, Leo; Tuifua, Fa’asavalu, Stowers. Replacements: Fuimaono-Sapolu for G Pisi (58 mins), Johnston for Taulafo (65 mins), Levi for Thompson (69 mins), B Helleur for T Pisi (72 mins), Paulo for Schwalger (77 mins), Salavea for Tuifua (79 mins). Sin Bin: Leo (36 mins).

Referee: M Jonker (South Africa).