SCOTLAND 36 SAMOA 33

SCOTLAND booked their place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals thanks to a 36-33 win over Samoa in a remarkable game at St James’ Park.

The Scots were behind for large period of the afternoon, with Samoa scoring four tries as their running backs sliced a series of holes in the Scottish defence.

Scotland scored three tries of their own through Tommy Seymour, John Hardie and Greig Laidlaw, but Laidlaw’s boot eventually proved crucial as he landed a string of crucial penalties in the second half.

The Scots will have to improve markedly in defence if they are to progress through the knockout stages, but they can at least take pride in the manner in which they came back fighting whenever Samoa threatened to pull away.

They will face either Wales or Australia in the last eight, while Samoa depart the tournament with their heads held high after a magnificent display that pushed the Scots to the limit.

Scotland’s tournament has been beset with slow starts, and while their head coach, Vern Cotter, had pledged that things would be different in their group decider, they once again found themselves playing catch up in the early stages.

Some early Samoan line breaks set the tone for the rest of the afternoon, and with the Pacific Islanders offloading superbly in contact, Tusi Pisi was able to slot over an early penalty to give his side the lead.

Laidlaw levelled things with a penalty of his own after Samoa were penalised for an infringement at the scrum, but that sparked an extraordinary passage of play in which both sides traded tries pretty much every time they broke down the pitch.

Samoa claimed the first of them, with Reynold Lee-Lo making a great line break and some slick handling along the line enabling Census Johnston to set up Pisi to score in the corner.

Scotland hit back within a minute, although their first try of the game owed much to some kamikaze Samoan defending. An attempt to throw the ball along the Samoa tryline ended in disaster when Seymour nipped in to juggle over the line and score.

Laidlaw’s conversion made it 10-10, but Samoa sliced through again to regain their lead from the kick-off. A quick tap penalty left the Scottish defence in tatters, and hooker Manu Leiataua was able to score from close range.

Tusi Pisi missed the conversion, and while Scotland initially passed up an opportunity to take three points from a penalty, they changed tack when Laidlaw was presented with another chance from in front of the posts.

That meant Scotland trailing by two, but their inability to defend against Samoa’s relentless running was apparent again shortly after.

A great passing move ended with Tusi Pisi playing in the irrepressible Lee-Lo, and the centre rounded off the move by scoring in the corner.

Laidlaw clawed back another three points when some more Samoan indiscipline proved costly, but Scotland were clearly rattled, and they were reduced to 14 men shortly before the half-hour mark when Ryan Wilson was sent to the sin bin for a stamping offence.

Tusi Pisi scored a penalty from in front of the posts, but Scotland pulled themselves together to score their second try of the game.

It was all down to their forwards, with a driving maul from a line-out enabling flanker Hardie to crash over from close in.

Laidlaw’s conversion levelled the scored at 23-23, but that still wasn’t the end of the first-half excitement.

Sakaria Taulafo thought he had scored Samoa’s fourth try, but while the score was ruled out by the TMO because of some shirt pulling, referee Jaco Peyper pulled play back for a Samoan penalty that Pisi slotted over.

That made it 26-23 at half-time, with the combined first-half points tally of 49 representing a record for a World Cup match.

The scoring slowed up slightly at the start of the second half, although that was largely down to Scotland inexplicably passing up a series of kickable penalties in order to kick for touch and attempt to score a try.

The ploy failed twice as the Scottish forwards were penalised, and Laidlaw eventually adopted the more sensible approach and slotted over a kick to tie the scores at 26-26.

With the game still extremely unstructured, Samoa creaked again inside their own half, and when the Scots were awarded another penalty, Laidlaw’s boot put them into the lead for the first time in the game.

The Scottish scrum-half missed two more long-range penalties that might have created some breathing space, but Scotland’s game management was much better in the second half and they spent much of the closing stages camped close to the Samoan line.

Their pressure eventually told with five minutes left as Laidlaw darted from the fringe of a five-metre scrum and dived over to score. His successful conversion made it 36-26, and effectively sealed Scotland’s victory.

There was still time for a final scare, however, as a series of pick-up-and-drives close to the Scotland try line ended with replacement Motu Matu’u crashing over from close range.

That meant Samoa were back within three points, but a knock-on in the final minute enabled the Scottish players to close out the victory that secures their quarter-final place.

Scotland: Hogg (Lamont 71), Maitland, Bennett, Scott (Horne 76), Seymour, Russell, Laidlaw; Dickinson, Ford (Brown 66), Nel, R Gray, J Gray (Swinson 63), Wilson (Strauss 53), Hardie, Denton.

Samoa: Nanai-Williams, Perez, G Pisi, Lee-Lo, Autagavaia, T Pisi (Fa’apale 72), Fotuali’i; Taulafo (Afatia 59), Leiataua (Matu’u 74), Johnston (Perenise 59), Paulo, Thompson (Levave 30), Fa’asavalua, Lam, Fa’osiliva (Tuilagi 59).