SAMOA DEFEAT SCOTLAND 27-17 FOR FIRST VICTORY
Giant left-wing Alesana Tuilagi scored two tries as the Pacific islanders ended an eightmatch winless streak against the Scots spanning 22 years since a 286 reverse at Murrayfield. Early tries by full-back James So'oialo and Tuilagi gave the Samoans a comfortable lead
DURBAN, South Africa, June 08, 2013 (AFP) - Samoa defeated Scotland for the first time with a 27-17 triumph at Kings Park Saturday in the opening match of a four-nation tournament.
Giant left-wing Alesana Tuilagi scored two tries as the Pacific islanders ended an eight-match winless streak against the Scots spanning 22 years since a 28-6 reverse at Murrayfield.
Early tries by full-back James So'oialo and Tuilagi gave the Samoans a comfortable lead they surrendered briefly during the second half before hitting back with 13 unanswered points.
Scotland made an embarrassing start before a small, sun-drenched crowd as fly-half Tom Heathcote 'over cooked' his kick-off and it went directly into touch.
However, the much heavier Samoa pack were unable to take advantage from the resulting scrum on the halfway line with referee John Lacey penalising the islanders.
After some early Scottish probing, Samoa went ahead on seven minutes when a handling movement begun deep in their half ended with So'oialo going over in the corner and adding the conversion.
Scrum-half Greig Laidlaw narrowed the gap by successfully landing a tough penalty kick only for the Samoans to cross the try-line again just 13 minutes into the opening half.
Once again the Scots were undone by slick, quick handling across the field and 117-kilogram Tuilagi stormed over in the opposite corner to So'oialo, who added the conversion.
Laidlaw fluffed a relatively easy penalty kick before atoning with a couple of successful efforts to leave Samoa 14- 9 ahead at half-time after 40 minutes of good, bad and woeful rugby.
Scotland began the second half strongly with a Laidlaw penalty and a try in the corner by right-wing Sean Lamont after a turnover when Samoa messed up having won a scrum.
So'oialo kicked a penalty on 54 minutes to level the Test at 17-17 and Tuilagi then struck again, using his pace and physique to brush off tackles and dot down.
After converting the try, So'oialo kicked a second penalty to give the islanders a 10-point advantage with 10 minutes left as the crowd swelled ahead of the second part of the doubleheader between South Africa and Italy.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen headed back to the drawing board here Saturday after France exposed flaws in his new game plan for the world champions.
Although the All Blacks scrambled to a 23-13 victory at Eden Park, the match was “ugly at times” in Hansen's words as he admitted he was not happy with the performance.
“So we'll go away and review the match and try and get rid of the avoidable errors, of which I think there were 25, and work away at refining what we're trying to do,” he said.
France led for most of the first half until the All Blacks snared two converted tries in the space of five minutes just before the break.
They had chances in the second half to regain the lead but let themselves down through handling errors, leading Les Bleus coach Philippe Saint-Andre to lament that an “opportunity to win” was lost.
With a raft of senior All Blacks unavailable, including the injured Dan Carter and the resting Richie McCaw, the opening Test of the season offered younger faces in the squad a chance to shine.