Comment has riled Samoans

Kobe – Samoa coach Steve Jackson (above) hopes Scotland’s words about his side come back to haunt them when the teams meet at the Rugby World Cup today.

The Pacific islanders will be without centre Rey Lee-Lo and hooker Motu Matu’u after the pair were yellow-carded and then banned for three games for shoulder-led hits to the head of Russia’s Vasily Artemyev during Samoa’s opening 34-9 Pool A win.

Scotland vice-captain Greig Laidlaw said this week the Samoa duo deserved to be banned as they were guilty of “two clear head shots – and pretty brutal ones at that”.

Jackson said he was using reports out of the Scotland camp as motivation for his players as they look to cause an upset against the Six Nations side.

“We know there’s been things put to the media by people in the Scottish squad around talking to the referees about tackles and all that sort of stuff,” Jackson told reporters at the Kobe Misaki Stadium yesterday.

“Thanks for doing that because that just motivates our players a lot more.

“The 23 players that are going out there will have the same mindset and the same attitude, same temperament to this group and then we’ll see what happens.”

The Samoa pair’s bans are of the same length as the one given to the USA’s John Quill, even though the flanker received a red card – the first of the tournament – for a late shoulder charge on England captain Owen Farrell during the Eagles’ 45-7 loss in Kobe.

“If you look at the USA tackle and our two tackles, they are completely different, but exactly the same outcome,” Jackson said.

A Samoa win would end Scotland’s quarterfinal hopes after their woeful 27-3 loss to Ireland and Jackson said his side would look to emulate Japan’s example following the World Cup hosts’ stunning 19-12 win over the Irish on Saturday.

“I take my hat off to Japan,” said Jackson. “It was great to watch and, like any other team, we were almost cheering.”

Samoa, despite missing two players through suspension, will be bolstered by the extraordinarily rapid return from injury of both flanker Piula Faasalele, who broke his arm two months ago, and captain Jack Lam.

“We’re talking about two guys with the highest pain tolerance in the world,” said Jackson.

“To have the captain back has just lifted the team and Faasalele back playing has just lifted the guys again.” –