Eagles soar over Samoa thanks to Hooley’s boot

A LAST-GASP penalty from Will Hooley sent the USA to their first-ever victory over Samoa at the sixth time of asking.

The lead switched hands three times in the last ten minutes as Cardiff Blues number 8 Cam Dolan intercepted a lofted pass by Samoa to race clear and make the score 27-26.

But just three minutes later Gary Gold’s side were punished for being offside, giving fly-half D’Angelo Leuila the chance to bring the lead back under Samoa’s control, 29-27.

USA ramped up the pressure in front of the crowd in San Sebastian and they got their due rewards as Samoa were pinged twice for wrong entry in an Eagles driving maul.

Hooley teed up the game winner from 40 metres to seal the game 30-29 in a major boost to the Eagles’ credentials, as they seek a ninth-consecutive win against Romania next week.

Rugby World Cup-bound Russia and Namibia met in Krasnodar to play out a nine-try encounter that saw the hosts romp to a 4720 win.

Russia’s backline proved too elusive to defend against as wing centre Vladimir Ostrushko, fullback Vasily Artemyev and replacement scrum-half Vasilii Dorofeev all crossed over in the second-half to push home the 19-6 advantage held at the break.

Namibia produced a late flash of attacking rugby allowing replacement scrum-half TC Kisting and centre Darryl de la Harpe to get on the scoresheet in a match which also saw Sale Sharks lock Andrei Ostrikov bag a try.

Romania secured their place in the 2019 Rugby Europe Championship with a 36-6 win against Portugal in Bucharest.

Despite moments of encouragement for the visitors in the first 40, Romania were never made to sweat thanks to the clinical finishing of wing Ionut Dimitru.

The Oaks back scored twice inside eight minutes to rock back Portugal in a dominant win.

Tonga held off a French fightback to hold onto their lead in a 13-try thriller that finished 49-38 in Bordeaux.

Scrum-half Sonatane Takulua notched a brace of tries and converted all of Tonga’s seven tries to lead 49-14 midway through the second half. But a young French Barbarians side replied with four unanswered tries to finish strongly in the face of defeat.