Rugby World Cup 2019: Russia 9-34 Samoa

Samoa put in a much-improved second-half display to dispatch Russia 34-9 in their opening Rugby World Cup match.

Steve Jackson’s side struggled to get out of first gear in a frantic first-half at Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, but their quality told after the interval – Afaesetiti Amosa and Ed Fidow combining for three tries in the space of eight minutes.

Russia looked to have the upper hand when Rey Le-Lo and Motu Matu’u were sin-binned prior to the break, but the Bears – 30-10 losers to hosts Japan in their opening Pool A fixture – failed to take advantage.

Samoa showed no such profligacy when Kirill Gotovtsev was sent to the sidelines for his desperate foul on Amosa, Fidow’s quick double securing the bonus point prior to late tries from Le-Lo and Alapati Leiua.

Fidow looked set to put Samoa ahead in the ninth minute, only to fumble five yards short of Russia’s line, but Leiua made no such mistake from Tim Nanai-Williams’ excellent pass.

Yury Kushnarev converted two quickfire penalties to nose Lyn Jones’ side in front, and Le-Lo was fortunate to escape with a booking for a high tackle on Vasily Artemyev before Samoa were reduced to 13 when Matu’u was cautioned for a challenge from which he came off worse.

5 – Samoa have been shown five yellow cards in the Rugby World Cup since the beginning of 2015, only Namibia (6) have received more in that time. Ferocious.#RUSvSAM #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/VvNE4Eyn2s

— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) September 24, 2019

But with Russia failing to make their numerical advantage count, Samoa clicked up a gear after the interval and, despite Gotovtsev’s efforts, retook the lead thanks to Amoso, who was injured in the process.

Russia pulled back to within one point when Kushnarev kicked a long-range drop-goal, but they would not score again, as Fidow’s double put Samoa out of sight.

Le-Lo scrambled over to further compound Russia’s misery, with Leiua having the final say when he powered down the right to help himself to a second.
 

Refereeing inconsistencies come to the fore once again

World Rugby issued a statement on Tuesday expressing their disappointment at the standard of refereeing across the opening weekend of the tournament, and the officials were again put into focus in Kumagaya.

Le-Lo got lucky when he was only cautioned for his tackle on Artemyev, who was ducking slightly, before Russia’s captain was the recipient of Matu’u’s awkward hit moments later. Both challenges could easily have been worthy of red cards.

Samoa’s medical staff take no risks

Matu’u appeared to lose consciousness following his collision with Artemyev, though the hooker seemed ready to come back on until the medics intervened, rightly deeming it too much of a risk for the player to continue.

Key Opta Stats:

– Samoa’s 25-point victory over Russia was their fifth biggest win at the Rugby World Cup and their best since a 49-12 win against Namibia in 2011.
– Russia led 6-5 at half-time against Samoa, the first time they had led at the halfway stage of a RWC match.
– Samoa kept Russia from crossing the try line, the first time they stopped an opponent in a RWC match since 2003 when they shut Georgia out; Samoa had conceded an average of 3.2 tries in their 14 games since then.
– Fidow scored two tries against Russia, and now has 10 tries in just nine Tests for Samoa.
– There were three yellow cards in this match, two for Samoa and one for Russia – only one match in RWC history has seen more yellow cards awarded (4 – Georgia v Namibia in 2015).
– Tusi Pisi (37 years 98 days) became the oldest player to feature for Samoa in a RWC game, the previous oldest was Peter Fatialofa (36y 45d v South Africa in 1995).

What’s next?

There is a six-day turnaround for Samoa, who face Scotland in Kobe in their second fixture, while Russia face Ireland three days later.

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