On the charge: Richie Gray
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Scotland needed a late try from replacement Rob Harley to claim a dramatic 17-16 win over Samoa at Apia Park on Saturday.
Victory for the visitors means that Andy Robinson's side finish their tour of the southern hemisphere unbeaten following previous wins over Australia and Fiji.
Centre Joe Ansbro made the most of his late addition to the starting line-up after Nick De Luca failed a fitness test on a thigh strain, crossing over for a try late to give his side a 7-6 lead at the break.
However, Samoa seemed headed for their first-ever win over Scotland when fly-half Tusi Pisi, who provided all of his team's points, started to take control of the game to give his side a 16-10 lead.
The pivot followed up two penalties in the opening 40 minutes with a drop-goal, a conversion and a try. Wing Paul Williams found a gap between lock Richie Gray and left wing Tim Visser on the blind side of a ruck and put Pisi through for the five-pointer.
Scotland provided unrelenting pressure in the closing quarter, but they were nearly caught out when Samoa wing Paul Perez picked up a loose ball to cross over. However, the try was not awarded as the touch judge found that a foot went into touch in the build-up.
The pressure from the visitors finally told on the Samoan defence as Mike Blair sent Harley, who was making his debut, through a huge gap by the left-hand post late in the game.
Greig Laidlaw slotted the simple conversion to secure an historic win.
The scorers:
For Samoa:
Try:Pisi
Cons: Pisi
Pens:Pisi 2
Drop: Pisi
For Scotland:
Tries: Ansbro, Harley
Cons: Laidlaw 2
Pen: Laidlaw
Samoa: 15 Fa'atoina Autagavai, 14 Paul Perez, 13 Fautua Otto, 12 Paul Williams, 11 David Lemi (c), 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Kane Thompson, 7 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 6 Ben Masoe, 5 Daniel Crichton, 4 Fa'atiga Lemalu, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Wayne Ole Avei, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Joe Tekori, 19 Afa Aioni, 20 Jeremy Sua, 21 Ki Anufe, 22 Lolo Lui.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Greig Laidlaw, 9 Chris Cusiter, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Alastair Kellock, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Tom Ryder, 19 Robert Harley, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Duncan Weir, 22 Max Evans.
Referee: Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Ian Smith, Andrew Lees (both Australia)
Comments
Ripzy007 says...
@ Sandal, well put...The man's (Trinats) world is so narrow that everything is either green or yellow (he's going to say gold - whatever)...
Posted 23:08 24th June 2012
rakavi187 says...
@NHsaints....a win is still a bloody win.
Posted 23:07 24th June 2012
sandal says...
@ NHsaints
The Wallaby team that Scotland defeated included the following 15 players:
Anthony Fainga'a, Digby Ioane, Berrick Barnes, Will Genia, Scott Higginbotham, David Pocock, Dave Dennis, Nathan Sharpe, Sitaleki Timani and Stephen Moore. On the bench there were Ben Alexander, Rob Simmons, Michael Hooper, Pat McCabe and Adam Ashley Cooper.
These 15 men all featured in Australia's defeat of Wales on Saturday.
That Wallabies side that the Scots defeated was no second XV, whatever Trinats is saying. Let's face it, in Trinats' world no team ever defeated a full-strength Australia side.
Come on, mate, you're better than that.
Posted 12:21 24th June 2012
porridge_time says...
NHsaints...
Having a wild stab in the dark here, but are your ignorant and ill-informed swipe at Scotland down to the fact that England failed?
Posted 11:34 24th June 2012
atg77 says...
@NHSaints... any excuse to put Scotland down right? Scotland were playing at only about 2/3 of their first choice team... and in very oppressive conditions. We probably won't beat NZ, but I can see Scotland making it back to back wins against the boks and also beating a tenatious Tongan team.
Posted 22:13 23rd June 2012
jaycee_111 says...
NHSaints maybe if you knew more about the Scotland team or even international rugby you would realise it wasn't a first choice Scotland team that went out either due to many injuries.
Posted 19:18 23rd June 2012
ppbrauuk says...
Congratulations to Scotland, only NH nation to come south and win (unless Les Frogs surprise Los Hermanos tomorrow). Not only did they win, they won it all!
Posted 19:09 23rd June 2012
scot_rsa says...
Fantastic, well done Scotland, a proud achievement. NHSaints, please be a bit more gracious, there are a lot of new players coming through for Scotland and they've done well. No Denton, Jones, Beattie, Chunk, and Welsh went home early. Nobody in Scotland boasted we'd win all three but they did, away from home in tough conditions. Damn right we have some hope, but we'll be modest about it.
Posted 13:39 23rd June 2012
nastyned says...
What's interesting is that in all three tests Scotland put themselves in a position where they were able to register late scores, that's good game management. Contrast that with Wales and Ireland's lack of composure and inability to close out last week's games. @NHSaints, all a side can do is beat the team in front of them, all international teams have players missing through injury at any one time, a test is a test.
Posted 12:59 23rd June 2012
7nezking says...
Well done Scotland. Now I hope my country Tonga can challenge you guys in September. Good stuff from Fiji and Samoa in that aspect although they could have won. Although the Pacific Nations are not on the same level as Ireland, England, France and Wales but Scotland winning against these nations can do good to their confidence coz a win is a win and a narrow loss is still a loss (Ireland England and Wales won't say otherwise lol)...but I hope come November Tonga wins :D
Posted 12:55 23rd June 2012
NHsaints says...
Well done Scotland for their clean-sweep, scotland supporters shouldn't get their hopes up though...basically scotland beat a second string australia side and then Fiji (who were woeful at the world cup) and then Samoa without George Pisi, Schwalger or Tuilagi.
Posted 11:07 23rd June 2012
Wallaroo says...
Well done Scotland, my grandfather would have been proud.
Posted 10:52 23rd June 2012
suilven says...
So proud of Scotland, fighting to the end in hard game against the very tough Samoans.
Thanks to Samoan TV who sorted out a stream so we could see the match. And what on earth were Sky /ESPN doing, not bothering to cover it? How insulting to both Samoa & Scotland.
Posted 09:36 23rd June 2012
powerplay says...
welldone scots thanks for coming!
Posted 09:21 23rd June 2012
melkdave says...
Congraulations Scotland ,i knew it would be a tight game ,but managed to squeeze a win .Lets hope the improvment continues in the aurtum now.and into the 2013 6Ns.
Posted 08:09 23rd June 2012
vaizpatu2011 says...
The experience of the Scotland team came in handy at the end. Very tight game!! Heart-broken to the Samoans. 80th minute try is a bad way to lose. But what a game.
Posted 07:17 23rd June 2012