Star flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson produced a piece of trademark magic as late tries by Iain Balshaw and Phil Vickery allowed England to avoid the biggest upset in Rugby World Cup history on Sunday as the tournament favorites battled to a 35-22 win over Samoa.
England had gone into the match strongly favored to win by 40 points or more but found the Pacific Islanders anything but easybeats in what was easily the best game of the championship so far.
The Samoans led 10-0 early and 16-13 at half time before Clive Woodward's men emerged on top in a gripping second half. But not before being given the fright of their lives.
PHOTO: AFP
England escaped with the points but Samoa got much of the kudos, completing a "lap of honor" afterwards in front of the 50,000-plus crowd.
"We came here to compete" and "I'm very proud of my boys," said Samoa captain and No. 8 Semo Sititi after the match.
"We had belief in ourselves to do the job for our country."
PHOTO: REUTERS
England captain Martin Johnson was as relieved as Woodward and the rest of his team afterwards. He said the English had made "too many mistakes" and Samoa had "played great, credit to them."
"They could have beaten us, simple as that," Johnson said. "We're going to have to look at ourselves this week because that's not good enough. That's not going to win anything.
"We didn't touch the ball for [the first] 15 minutes. They played brilliantly well with width, they deserved their try and it could have been more.
"But we came back in the second half. I thought we were going to come through but there were too many mistakes again from us.
"The way we're going we're not going to win next week [against Uruguay] let alone the quarterfinal."
The Pacific Islanders had started superbly, disrupting England's usually clinical play but began to tire in the final quarter of the match. They were put under huge pressure by the England forwards and, although Woodward's men gained a third victory to reach the quarterfinals, it could have been a humiliating defeat.
A huge underdog going into the game, the Samoans were 10-0 ahead inside eight minutes.
Flyhalf Earl Va'a, who went into the game on 27 points and was once backup to Wilkinson at Newcastle, kicked the Samoans ahead after four minutes with an angled penalty.
England went into the game the only team not to concede a try but that was all over within eight minutes.
Flying winger Lome Fa'atau broke through on the right and, with the English defense pulled out of position, the ball was fed quickly through five pairs of hands to Sititi, who had a superb game, to go over.
Va'a landed the conversion and England was suddenly down 10 points and looking shaken as the Samoans came out full of fight and produced their trademark spontaneous play, swinging the ball across the field and tackling strongly.
The Samoans had a chance to go further ahead when Va'a hit the left upright with a penalty kick from around 42m. Wilkinson had already missed with an earlier penalty attempt from 47m out.
But England began to regroup and, after the Samoans were guilty of a ruck infringement in the England half, scored its first try.
Wilkinson launched a huge kick downfield and, from the resultant lineout, one of England's controversial rolling mauls -- with Neil Back dubiously bound at the back -- led to a try for the veteran back row. Wilkinson converted and Samoa's lead was cut to 10-7.
Two minutes later it was 10-10 when the Samoans infringed again and Wilkinson landed a penalty.
Va'a restored the Samoan lead with two more penalties including one from 47m and, amazingly, Wilkinson then missed one from the 22m line.
He got the next one right from just in front of the posts in the final minute of the first half and Woodward's men went into half time three points behind and guilty of an uncharacteristically high 13 missed tackles.
Woodward sent on three replacements and England had a great chance of a second try 10 minutes into the second half when they had 12 phases of play close to the Samoan line. But a combination of poor handling a great tackling kept Woodward's team out.
But South African referee Jonathan Kaplan awarded them a penalty try when the Samoans collapsed a scrum with the English pack trying to push them over. Wilkinson kicked the conversion and England led 20-16.
Va'a cut that to one point with his fourth penalty and then kicked his team back in front by two with 18 minutes to go. But Wilkinson's third drop goal of the championship after a spell of strong England pressure turned it back England's way by one.
England's pressure brought a third try with 10 minutes to go and it was something special.
With the Samoans expecting another push from the forwards, Wilkinson launched a kick out right where Balshaw was waiting unchallenged and swooped on the ball to go over in the corner. Wilkinson missed the conversion but England led by six.
Then prop Vickery ended another slick move, stepping inside and out two Samoans for his first England try. This time Wilkinson made the kick and England led by 13 with five minutes left.
Wilkinson finished with 15 points from three conversions, two penalties and a drop goal. But he missed four kicks and almost certainly will be back on his own personal training routine on Monday.
Ireland 16, Argentina 15
Redemption arrived for Irish rugby Sunday, four long years and 80 agonizing minutes after their most harrowing World Cup defeat.
Ireland held on for a thrilling 16-15 victory over Argentina at Adelaide Oval, avenging the loss which knocked it out of the 1999 tournament.
The win put Ireland and Australia into the quarterfinals and Argentina out of the tournament. Ireland will play Australia next weekend with the winner to top pool A.
"It's a fantastic feeling," said Ireland center Brian O'Driscoll. "I know the flipside to this, when Argentina knocked us out in 1999, so that makes this something sweeter."
The Irish scored the only try but were never secure until the final whistle. Argentina put up a brave challenge and launched an incredible raid down the right which threatened to steal the game in the final seconds.
Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan made a decisive move in the second half, replacing struggling flyhalf David Humphreys with Ronan O'Gara, a change which lifted the side and carried it across the line.
"The lads kept their composure, kept plugging away and showed a lot of guts," O'Sullivan said. "If we hadn't expected this sort of match we might have buckled but we were well prepared."
Ireland rugby fans packed out Adelaide Oval, turning the stands into a sea of green, and while in good voice for the team song they endured a frustrating night.
Argentina outplayed the Irish in the opening 40 minutes, and scored first through a Gonzalo Quesada penalty on eight minutes. But the Pumas went to the break down 10-9 after Ireland flanker Alan Quinlan got the only try of the game on 19 minutes. It was Quinlan's final touch of the match, and perhaps the tournament.
Ireland captain Keith Wood seized on a loose ball in the center of the ground and as the Argentine players stood waiting for a whistle, the bald hooker stormed upfield. Quinlan loomed outside and had the legs to hold off opposing fullback Ignacio Corleto.
As his teammates celebrated, Quinlan lay in agony on the ground and came off straight away with a dislocated shoulder, then was taken to hospital.
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