South Africa vs Samoa, 26 September

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SOUTH AFRICA v SAMOA
26 September 2015
KO: 16:45
Villa Park, Birmingham
Live on ITV1 (United Kingdom) and TV3 (Republic of Ireland)

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)  
Assistant referees: JP Doyle (England), Angus Gardner (Australia)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

South Africa:

15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Samoa:

15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 Paul Perez, 12 Rey Lee-Lo, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Mike Stanley, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Ofisa Treviranus (c), 7 Jack Lam, 6 TJ Ioane, 5 Joe Tekori, 4 Teofilo Paulo, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Motu Matu'u, 1 Zak Taulafo

Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Viliami Afatia, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Vavae Tuilagi, 21 Vavao Afemai, 22 Tusi Pisi, 23 George Pisi

Ok, the pass was forward but would have had to pass it forward if he wasn't tugged off the ball by the South African defender?

No try but penalty to Samoa for me

A lot of errors but still a very good game. Plenty of huge hits from both sides.

On the field 2 minutes and score the bonus point try. Sculk Britz.

SA get their TBP but to be honest, they have not really deserved it in my opinion. I think that this team will not get beyond the 1/4 finals.

Barnes letting Samoa away with a lot of high tackles - dangerous

Sith Ifrica are bick in town!

What an idiot!!

What a bloody idiot - who would do that??

Samoa aren't easy to break down, so SA should be pleased with today's win. Once again Barnes showed us why he is one of the top officials at this tournament - Poite and Clancy take note.

Great game to watch. A much improved performance from SA. If they improve on that again then they have to be in the mix for a final place.

I do hope who ever that was that ran on to the field on the stopped the game gets banned from every sporting venue for life.

Well played habana great try to finish what was a good game. a game that SA had to win and win well. and they did.

RDW_Scotland wrote:What a bloody idiot - who would do that??

Dan van Luger?

The PI teams have been very dissapointing this year. Fiji can't string two phases together, Samoa sloppy and look poorly coached and Tonga; well this is the worst Tongan team Ive seen.

Not sure what to make of that from a jock perspective.

Samoa are very error prone and reactionary so Laidlaw should kick them to death by half time.

How much more and better are South Africa capable of? It's very, very hard to tell. They don't look like a semi final team at the moment.

Apart from the first 10 minutes it was a no contest. In boxing terms the ref could have stopped it after 35 minutes.

As GC alluded to, was it because the Boks were very good or Samoa very poor? I think the latter, but the Boks gained immeasurably in confidence as the game went on. Will they be that confident against sterner opposition?

Once the Boks start offloading out of the tackle they look very good, very dangerous and able to break teams down. When that isn't happening, they look ponderous. Thats something Scotland can do, target the ball. Offloading comes with confidence as well; will they be able to do it in the face of an aggressive defence when they are under pressure on the scoreboard in a tight game?

I think Scotland will easily dispose of Samoa and lose to South Africa. But South Africa do have vulnerabilities. I think they lack a controlling figure at 10, I think they can struggle when the game is fast and loose, there are issues at centre for them. I can't see them getting to the Final without someone managing to figure out how to exploit some of those weaknesses.

Well done to the boks for bouncing back in style. I hope the bok fan who came on the pitch is banned for life. Disrespectful pr1ck. Not rugby

I have watched and read the same comments about nearly every match Team X struggled
to put away Team  Y etc.
Stating the obvious SA needed a bonus point win they got it job done the only other real
contenders Scotland need bonus point wins in the rest of there matches.
Most teams are at full strength for RWCs there have been no real blowouts Japan won`t
concede 145 points to any one in this RWC.
NZ`s so called struggle versus Argentina was put in perspective by yesterdays Argentina
results.
NZ have the tightest schedule of all the teams  4 games in 17 days so like SA and all
others its about.Winning no matter how,giving players a game and trying to avoid
injuries till ko stages.

The pitch invader looked like he's been on the Census Johnson diet. What a fat f***. Probably the first game he participated in after he was benched in his school 6th XV U14s.

Makes the pool very interesting anyhow. Qualification is not a given, Samoa looked good enough to worry Scotland... SA vs. Scotland? dreams say yes... head, heart, lungs, kidney, hell my bowels say no.

The bonus points are really putting us in contention again. I am still nervous though.

I read today that they're worried Jean de Villiers has broken his jaw for a second time in 6 months.

Saw that too. Sucks

Confirmed - he'll miss the rest of the world cup.

Gutting for him as an individual, but De Allande and Kriel are an incredibly exciting combo.

Will Serfontein be brought in as a replacement?

Yes he has

Yes he has

fa0019 wrote:The pitch invader looked like he's been on the Census Johnson diet. What a fat f***. Probably the first game he participated in after he was benched in his school 6th XV U14s.

I thought they should have left him on...to get dealt with by the players on the dark side of the maul, just like Piet Van Zyl who found himself on the wrong side of McCaw and Venter's fists...

That was BamBam. He didn't need to do it. He'd won his bet but I guess the guy needed a run out anyway. Said it would be in the nip though so I'm disappointed in his lack of courage.

That was a worryingly good display from SA and they won at a canter. The Bok forwards have far too much power for our's to live with unless we can find a quick way of cloning Jonny Gray
It just makes the Japan game even harder to explain - was it an attitude problem because they through the game would be won easily, was it a bad game plan, bad execution or what?
To be honest, I think the Wales/England/Oz group is so tight and those 3 teams so evenly matched that there isn't a massive advantage in finishing first in our group to play the runners-up

There was trouble in the Bok camp, a rebellion of sorts. A status quo has been reached, Meyer and Matfield is in charge.

Whether there is team harmony is another question alltogether.

Mr Fishpaste wrote:

fa0019 wrote:The pitch invader looked like he's been on the Census Johnson diet. What a fat f***. Probably the first game he participated in after he was benched in his school 6th XV U14s.

I thought they should have left him on...to get dealt with by the players on the dark side of the maul, just like Piet Van Zyl who found himself on the wrong side of McCaw and Venter's fists...

I found myself wishing Henry Tuilagi was still playing. I really wish one of the Samoans had just mullered him into next week. See what a big man he is then.