Preview
Good Morning G&GRs, Reds and Wallabies fan here, helping out as a guest writer for the World Cup.
Welcome to the match review for Samoa v Chile, which was played at Stade de Bordeaux, in Bordeaux. It’s an historic match today, these teams haven’t played on the international stage before, so the winner will have that 100% winning record at full time.
Talking about firsts, the 2023 world cup is the first time that Los Condores have qualified for the tournament, and they are desperate for strong performances or even a win at their first go.
Chile play the majority of their international matches in the South American Rugby Championship, with third place being their most common finishing spot, but they did win it in 2015, and they were runners up in 2016, 2017, and 2020.
Chile had two narrow losses to Uruguay and Namibia in the warm up games, before going down to Japan in the opening round. While the score was 42-12, the general consensus among the G&GR team was that Chile play an exciting style of rugby and the game was thoroughly entertaining.
Samoa enter this fixture as firm favourites courtesy of their current rankings, 11 compared to 22, their history of beating tier 1 nations, (who can forget the 2011 win against the Wallabies in Sydney) and the strength of their roster. They have a host of current or former Super Rugby players in their squad including Michael Alaalatoa, Steve Luatua, Duncan Paia’aua, and of course ex Wallaby and genuinely nice guy Christian Leali’ifano.
Samoa have mixed form in the warm up games (does anyone else hate that term?) beating Japan and Tonga, but losing in a close one to Ireland and a not so close one to Fiji.
Our G&GR Captain, team leader, humble bloke, and all around Tahs tragic Hoss made the following forecast in the Friday news.
“Prédiction Intrépide: Loved watching the Chileans play and the Escobar brothers were awesome, particularly the hooker (made my Fantasy League side this week). Sadly it won’t be enough though, with Samoa fresh and ready to rip in their first game it could be a long and bruising afternoon for the South Americans. Samoa by 25.”
Both teams have everything to play for; for Chile, this is their best chance of a win, and for Samoa, it’s the perfect opportunity to get their campaign going and some important momentum before they take on Argentina next week.
The Match
First half
Samoa opened with the Siva Tau, to the delight of the crowd, and the Chile players looked like they were trying not to be impressed by it.
Samoa scored with a penalty to Leali’ifano to take an early lead. Chile hit back almost immediately with a great run and dummy from the flyhalf Fernandez splitting the Samoan defence and a few phases later Chile crossed for a converted try. To add to Samoa’s woes, the outside centre Seuteni was shown a cheese for a no arms tackle off the ball in the lead up to the try.
Samoa really controlled the game while they were down to 14 players, earning two kickable penalties, which Leali’Iafano converted to lead 9-7 when Seuteni returned to play at 15 minutes.
It was back and forth for the rest of the first half, there were six lead changes in total as both teams tried to take control of the game, with handling errors bringing both teams undone. Samoa had the upper hand in the scrum and lineout and Chile played with speed, energy, and good passing. Just when it looked like that would be the story of the first half, Samoa attacked from their own half with a well worked backline move leading to a try to Duncan Paia’aua in the corner, converted by Leali’Iafano for a 19-10 lead at oranges.
Second Half
Chile made four changes at the beginning of the second half with the Escobar brothers entering the fray. Samoa started the second half with the fluency we would expect, and it only took two minutes for the first try to Taumateine, which was brilliant, his handling to take the pop pass and score in one movement was stunning and will make the highlights package at the end of the cup. Check out the finish here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm9UtBWUuFU
Samoa went to the driving maul for their third and fourth tries, and by this time Chile were on a team warning and really struggling to stay in the contest.
Chile’s attempts to up the tempo and run the ball were repeatedly let down by handling errors or giving away penalties while on attack. The Chilean fullback Inaki Ayarza was dynamic and seemed to beat players with every touch but it was to no avail overall.
Yellow cards to both sides around 60 minutes, with Alfonso Escobar yellow carded for a high tackle and Ereatara Enari shown cheese for an illegal cleanout.
The game meandered to the 70th minute and the ref lost patience with the repeated infringements, with the reserve prop Esteban Inostroza earning the team yellow card, after being on the field for all of one minute.
Chile continued to play up-tempo rugby during the final 10 minutes but it was Samoa who finished the game with a final driving maul try. The Los Condores players looked absolutely spent at full time.
Full time score 43-10 to Samoa.
Two pieces of sportsmanship stood out, in the first half, Samoa were awarded a scrum penalty, but after a delay, changed it to a reset as the surface had torn up and caused the Chilean front row to collapse. The ref told the Samoan players what was happening, and they didn’t whinge or protest, just got on with it. The second was when Escobar was yellow carded, he made a very obvious and sincere apology to the Samoan player for the high tackle.
Samoa has really benefited from the revised eligibility rules, being able to call on ex All Blacks and Wallabies, to strengthen a squad of players who are playing in professional leagues around the world. I think it’s improved the game of rugby and credit to the law makers to for making this change and letting the Pacific nations get some return for the amount of talented players they’ve produced.
The Game Changer
Half time – Samoa came out firing in the second half, with three tries in 12 minutes really putting the game beyond Chile’s reach.
The Man of the Match/Standout Player
The official player of the match was Theo McFarland who was literally and figuratively massive for Samoa and seemed to be in everything including giving the pass off the ground for Taumateine to score. Also great to hear him reply to the interview questions in Samoan first and then English.
Source: Rugby World Cup
Have to also mention Johnathon Taumeteine, the halfback with a fantastic haircut, who was excellent in his time on the field, his try to open the second half was brilliant.
The crowd need a call out as well, huge support for Chile in the stands, and the singing and passion carried through the tv coverage for the whole game.
The Details
Team 1 Samoa – 43 Points
Tries: 5 – Duncan Paia’aua (41′), Jonathan Taumateine (42′), Fritz Lee (47′), Sama Malolo (52′, 81′)
Conversions: 3
Penalties: 4
Team 2 Chile – 10 points
Tries: 1 – Matias Dittus (6′)
Conversions: 1
Penalties: 1
