Sent off: Samoa's Paul Williams
South Africa remained unbeaten in Pool D and move on to the World Cup quarter-finals after beating Samoa 13-5 at North Harbour Stadium on Friday.
Samoa knew going in that it would be a tough ask to make it into the quarter-finals, but no one ever doubted they would fight until the final whistle.
There was a smidge of 'what might have been' attached to the result though for the islanders as had Mahonri Schwalger grounded a score, who knows what might of happened in the final stages. As it was the reigning champions had enough in the tank to stave off their opponents.
The Springboks came out with intent and quickly set about using their star player of the tournament thus far, Danie Rossouw, to make the metres. Nothing came of their foray after Morne Steyn sliced a drop-goal attempt, but the marker was laid that they weren't going to lose the physical.
South Africa tried for the opening points again moments later when Frans Steyn had a 60-metre penalty shot after good breakdown work from Heinrich Brüssow. That struck the crossbar in what turned out to only be delaying the inevitable as the Bok power soon shone through. They attacked down the left via Schalk Burger, who used his backline, which allowed Bryan Habana to cross in the corner. Morne Steyn's conversion made it 7-0 on ten minutes.
Samoa needed to up the ante and subsequently played to their strengths, with carrying from George Stowers and Seilala Mapusua making ground. That passage certainly let the Boks know they were not going to have it all their own way in Albany as slowly but surely Samoa gained momentum, being willed on by their passionate supporters. It was also apparent South Africa were not going to enjoy a similar score of their triumphs in 2007 and 2003.
That was not to say the Boks were struggling to make their presence felt, and with Frans Steyn sending over a 65-metre penalty on 25 minutes, they knew territory was not going to be a problem. That three was promptly doubled by namesake Morne two minutes later too as Samoa were penalised at scrum-time. 13-0 it was with barely half-an-hour played as Samoa's hopes looked to be getting even slimmer. Wales' fate was also almost known.
North Harbour Stadium was treated to a pulsating finish to the half when Kahn Fotuali'i broke down the right wing before handing on to Mapusua, but the ex-Exiles centre's Hail Mary pass failed to find its man, sending the teams in at 13-0 in favour of the Springboks.
It was a bumper 29,734 crowd on Friday that while packed into an open stadium, did not lack in atmosphere with the vocal Bok fans met by the islanders. And the former were soon to be silenced by a mass of noise from those waving blue and red as a lovely dummy and run from Tusi Pisi unlocked the defence. His offload to Mapusua was then recycled for Stowers to crash in. Pisi missed the kick that would have brought them within one score.
South Africa could have blamed that swing in momentum on the fact they had lost duo Habana and Rossouw, who later returned, to injuries minutes earlier. However, that is doing a disservice to Samoa who were turning up the heat on their rivals during the opening 20 minutes of the second stanza. The Boks needed to some fresh legs and Peter de Villiers oblidged, throwing on forwards Gurthrö Steenkamp and Willem Alberts for the last quarter.
It did little disarm the Samoan assault though as they kept on coming, mixing power up front with stepping wider out until Schwalger came within touching distance of the line before fumbling. Was that to be the moment that would haunt his outfit in the morning?
That it proved to be as an ill-tempered finish that saw Paul Williams sent-off for pushing Brüssow in the face and then John Smit shown yellow after a deliberate slap-down, ultimately ended Samoa's 2011. South Africa are now set to face the Wallabies.
Man of the match: Although on the losing side, Tusi Pisi again showed that he had a big future leading Samoa. The fly-half was light on his feet throughout and marshalled well, finding holes on more than one occasion. Mentions too for Bok props Tendai Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis at scrum-time and also flanker Schalk Burger, who was a genuine nuisance to Maurie Fa'asavalu and George Stowers. David Lemi was also very impressive.
Moment of the match: Had captain Mahonri Schwalger managed to hold onto the ball when reaching out on 66 minutes, maybe the Samoans were on the verge of something historic. But it was not meant to be as even with John Smit going to the sin-bin soon after, South Africa held on to top the Pool and set up a probable last-eight clash with Australia.
Villain of the match: It was played hard but fair until Paul Williams pushed/punched Heinrich Brüssow after being held at a breakdown. Williams will be upset with how he ended the tournament as the frustration got the better of him.
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Try: Habana
Con: M Steyn
Pens: F Steyn, M Steyn
For Samoa:
Try: Stowers
Red card: Paul Williams, 67 mins (Samoa, punching)
Yellow card: John Smit, 70 mins (SA, killing the ball)
Samoa: 15 Paul Williams, 14 David Lemi, 13 Seilala Mapusua, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 George Stowers, 7 Maurie Faasavalu, 6 Taiasina Tuifua, 5 Kane Thompson, 4 Daniel Leo, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Mahonri Schwalger (c), 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Anthony Perenise, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Ofisa Treviranus, 20 Filipo Lavea Levi, 21 Junior Poluleuligaga, 22 George Pisi.
South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie Du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie Du Plessis, 2 Bismarck Du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Jean De Villiers.
Referee: Nigel Owens
By Adam Kyriacou at North Harbour Stadium
Comments
MAD40er says...
"The_Block says...
Wow, the Boks should have lost. The Samoans owned them. Blindest ref ever seen. Manu Samoa, you should be proud. You beat the Boks today. You just couldn't beat the ref. Biggest upset so far in the world cup. The fact that you were denied your win."
Seriously? There are alot of Trolls on this site. And Rugbylover is one of them too.
There is no respect in these comment sections and forums anymore.
Posted 22:01 30th September 2011
dylster says...
Well it was an exciting game...when Samoa had the ball!
SA showed no imagination or flair...I dont understand why they persist with the Up and unders when they clearly only work about 1 in 10? Especially when you have Habana and Pietersen on the wings? If they do that against Aussie back 3 they will be in trouble.
@ sirjona you tool, go away and count the amount of NZ born players in the Samoa team and then the amount of Samoan born players in the ABs..youll find its at least 10 playing for Samoa and about 1-2 in the ABs.
Regarding foulplay - I saw it going both ways, including Burgers high tackle to stop Swalger (sp?) and THEN interfering while still on the ground...Samoa pretty unlucky there.
And the Brussow v Williams incident - Williams in the wrong for holding Brussow, Brussow in the wrong for PUNCHING Williams, William in the wrong for b!tch slapping him. Brussow bit OTT with the hollywood. Should have been a yellow to Williams and a warning to Brussow I reckon.
Going to ABs vs Canada tomorrow - should be a ripper!
Posted 21:22 30th September 2011
turmeric says...
SA deserved their win (just) But the Ref was absolute RUBBISH in last nights game and I really hope Nigel Owens doesnt take the field again:
David Lemi's double movement penalty - WRONG!
Kane Thompson coming round the side of the mall - WRONG!
Peterson off his feet causing the Samoa knock on - Should have been called!
SA slowing the ball down illegally in first half with Samoa on their try line - Should have been a penalty!
Smit's Yellow card - WRONG!!
Big calls that could easily have changed the result of this game. NOT a good performance from Nigel Owens.
Posted 21:12 30th September 2011
jakedamuss says...
oh and for goodness sakes stop calling samoa minnows, theyre all full timers and deserve a lot more respect. I kind of understand eliota fuimaono sapolu's sentiments re the IRB
Posted 20:59 30th September 2011
nefari says...
Well the ref had an off night, even though the boks slowed a few balls down there is a few times where we deserved a penalty or turn over, not to mention. Being blown of for a few knock ons when the ball clearly went backwards and samoa really had bad luck in the first half (even though maposua almost comically gave some of the worst offloads I have ever seen)
I agree though that kicking the ball away constantly is the worst strategy in the world and aus will tear us to shreds. Bismarc finally got a start but had a shocker in my opinion.. He slipped tackles and missed quite a few line out jumps and lineouts are where we supposed to have killed the contest. And we missed potential line breaks from hougaard.
All in all samoa gave it 120% and the boks were playing to wait for samoa to get tired and it never happened... But I have to believe that fouriedp will regain form and that's all that is missing from the boks to win this trophy again.
Posted 20:58 30th September 2011
jakedamuss says...
How on earth did they let a welshman referee this game when the result would determine whether or not wales would go through. south africa played like filth and samoa were very much the better team. all blacks or aussie or even the bloody poms will put 20 - 50 point on south africa. Funny that though, what else could we expect but racism from those jaapies
Posted 20:56 30th September 2011
sukkadoits says...
This was an awesome game to watch. It had all the drama and was hugely physical and intense.
I agree, Mo Schwalger made life hard for himself and the team by giving Owens that spray when SA was successfully slowing their ball down near the line. From then on, it was a fractured relationship.
The missed conversion was a huge factor in this game. Had the score been 7-13, within a converted try, the Samoans would've had more hope in the last 10mins. Instead, seeing the margin two scores away, the Samoans were left flustered and frustrated.
Thanks SA and Samoa, great game
Posted 20:36 30th September 2011
RealRugby says...
Well done boks. Would be unfair to say you were lucky, the defence was imense! Samoa had you under the cosh in that second half though!
Hate to say it, but the boks will be hard to beat, anyone writing them off do so at your own peril!
Posted 20:23 30th September 2011
rugbylover11 says...
hehehehe@jaystar
since sapolu went on twiter you became imbalance in your views
YOU TOLD EVERYONE BEFORE THAT YOU WON'T SUPPORT SAMOA AGAIN
it's not a surprise that you are now subtle in your analysis,, even a preschool kid can see via your whitewash pretense hehehehehe!!!!!!
Get over it!! Your ex-prop wrote in this site something like this against samoa:
BUT IT IS NOW CLEAR THAT AUSTRALIA A IS NOT THE SAME AS AUSTRALIA B.
Well with the short turn around between games, The bok has just beaten a manu samoa B hehehehe!!!
RUGBY IS ALWAYS A GAME OF THOSE WHO THINK THAT THEIR RACE IS SUPERIOR!!!!!!
STOP BEING A COWARD AND GIVE A FAIR ANALYSIS.
i haven't seen the bok so scared in a rugby match before. all credit to the minow named manu samoa for that perfomance.
Posted 20:10 30th September 2011
Honestpom says...
Saw Brussow against the Lions a couple of years ago and he looked world class straight away. Saw him when the Boks beat the All Blacks recently and he was awesome, played out of his skin and looked to be made of iron. Just watched the highlights of todays game and thoughthe went down and milked it like a prima donna premiership footballer doing all he could to get an honest fellow pro sent off. Let himself and Rugby down there, very sad
Posted 20:09 30th September 2011
mew2000 says...
The ref was poor on both sides last night and thats a fact! How sa didn't get a penalty against them on the try line ie:jp slapping ball down illegally from the bottom of ruck on try line I don't know??? Can you honestly see the boks kicking that much ball away against aussie or the abs? I thought the boks would kill aussie in qf but maybe the aussie's could sneak it...
Posted 19:26 30th September 2011
crunchfit says...
@Clint_ZA
Brussouw did strike Williams on the head. He hit him on the arm and the back of the head. Not sure how you missed this...
And Smit's knock down was quite clearly deliberate. What the hell are you talking about palm down? Smit hit the ball with his fingers and sent it flying backwards out of the Samoan line. He never tried to catch it.
This was a good match from a neutral perspective but the South African killing of the ball and slowing Samoa's attack (one of their best weapons and what makes them great to watch) really dampened down the greatness of the game.
To be honest, everything you wrote in response to Ramage is a load of crap. Did you even watch the match or just read a biased article on it? It really seems to me like the latter.
Posted 19:11 30th September 2011
Clint_ZA says...
My word you'd think Samoa won this match from some of the comments! And those that claim the match was played hard but fair clearly watch too much football in their spare time. You need to also take your blinkers off. The Samoans were disgraceful and to make matters worse they seemed to be lead in this department by their captain. He showed no respect for the ref from the outset! A total disgrace and definitely not an advert for rugby as some insinuate.
@Ramagem, your comments were last so let me address you. I could just laugh at some of the things you said but let me give you the respect of answering. The most laughable comment of all is your one about being a neutral. It is quite apparent where your support lay.
Brussouw striking the player on the head! What!? I clearly saw different replays to you or you just saw what you wanted.
And I don't see many Bok fans being under the impression that this was a great match. It was tough, however, the fact that we weren't drawn into the dirty play and antagonism from Samoa says a lot about how this team has advanced. Our discipline bodes well for future matches.
Your concern for SA after coming through this bruising encounter with a win is rather misplaced considering Australia have come through their group with a loss.
I'd also like to add that Smit's yellow card was a farce. A deliberate knock down would require the palm of the player to be facing down. Smit's was not! By then Owens had lost it and had no idea what he was doing. In fact he lost it near the start when he chose not to stamp his authority on the Samoans early.
Posted 18:43 30th September 2011
Ramage says...
Some interesting posts, so many one sided. It is ok to be patriotic but some posts bordered on the absurd. Owens had a poor game and he could be one of the referees not wanted after the pools and on an early flight home. His decisions were poor and in some cases clearly wrong and twice but for the intervention of the assistants his decision would have compounded the mistakes he made. However to use the word racist is over the top and uncalled for. the decisions that I saw were not racist decisions because I and anyone else would not have any way of telling what Nigel Owens was thinking.They were to me clearly mistakes or wrong application of the laws. Samoa were not the only ones who copped poor decisions even if they received more against them. I believe the explanation of the English assistant referee over the red card was lacking in fact and in Owens defence he did say he didn't see it, Should he have well many would say yes he should. So he was bound to accept the Assistant's recommendation. It wasn't a punch and Brussow, admittedly provoked, also struck Williams a number of times including striking his head.
If the Bok supporters think this display was good enough to see them march into the finals of the RWC and win it then they are totally misguided. Yes their defence was good aided at times by Owens who allowed too much slowing down of the ball. I actually thought the Boks would win the QF against the Australians but if the team fool themselves as so many Bok fans are doing then there will be a few upset Saffas on here after that game if they use similar tactics as today.
As a neutral I enjoyed the intensity of the game and Samoa can hold their heads high. This year they defeated Australia and pushed South Africa.It is unfortunate that their tactics let them down at times. Placement in some other pool could have seen them in the QFs. Four or Five Nations
Posted 17:53 30th September 2011
crunchfit says...
Pathetic by Brüssow. It's an embarrassment to the sport and to himself.
Hard luck to Samoa. They were unlucky not to win. The slowing of the ball by SA ruined the match for neutrals like myself. It is really irritating to watch. Anyway, I'm glad that we won't have to play the Samoans but they should be immensely proud of having the better of SA. They can compete / beat any top nation team (except NZ perhaps).
Posted 17:48 30th September 2011
dangerous says...
Although an all blacks supporter always been proud of my Samoan heritage. Can't believe how far Samoa have come as a rugby playing nation. I just hope they can put the infrastructure in place to continue moving forward. Ditto for the other island nations. Alot of mature heads in that team. Hopefully this is a turning point for samoa and they won't be one hit wonders or world cup wonders. Manu Samoa
Posted 17:43 30th September 2011
melkdave says...
OK lets be very clear WILLAIMS actions where a straight RED card.There can be no delibrate contact with an opponents face EVER no matter if you are provoked.Not that he was Brussow was trying to break Williams illegal holding on to him when on the ground ,that alone is a yellow card Nigel Owens also could have yellow carded K.Thompson earlier and perhaps should have .i certinally would have.Instead he treated the players as adults knowing they where fired up and allowed the game to flow as much as possiable and you have to admit it was a great game to watch.As to Smits yellow that was also justified for a delibert knock on whitch stopped a Samoan overlap
All this whining about referees is tiresome,as ive posted b4 virtualy every contact there is an offence commited if refs didnt use common sense The game would be nothing but constant penalties and no one wants that
Posted 16:53 30th September 2011
smarty says...
Wish SA had lost that and ended up in the woessy side of the table. Sill can't forgive aus for being such a bunch of losers against Ireland. Hope we thump them for being such a bunch of girls
Posted 16:47 30th September 2011
nefari says...
Where was the referee favouring the boks, I can't remember a few high tackles and clear shoulder charges(tackles without arms) is it now acceptable that this is the way samoans tackles or what?
Samoa played with a lot of niggle to bring out the boks to fight because samoa had nothing to lose... This is a step forward for the boks who gained much more psychologically than anything today.
Was a good game if only morne steyn didn't kick like 28 out of the 30 balls he received even with support on counter attacks and also kicks that were poor.
Posted 16:46 30th September 2011
tuffnut says...
An incredible game. Unlucky Samoa didn't pull off the upset. Remember the All Blacks have lost to South Africa by greater margins on several occasions so Samoa you can hold your heads high. For a population of 180,000 (and probably twice as many again proud descendants around the globe), you're one nation of people who really punch above your weight. It's a pity this beautiful game is restricted too often by money and we can't see a Samoan team playing in the Trinations (Four-nations). WIth the eligibility rules loosened up to allow players who've only played a handful of tests for other countries to add to your small but exceptionally talented stocks, I'm sure it'd make for an exciting spectacle. Manuia Samoa faamalosi!!
We'll played Bokke your solid defense and strong set-piece was outstanding. Don't be too hard on yourselves for the close margin. You didn't play badly, it's just that this is a very talented Samoan team. Great to see Habana starting to show good form again as well, I hope his injury isn't anything too serious.
Great game today and here's to a sensational RWC so far!!!
Posted 16:44 30th September 2011