Match report
England 18-17 Samoa
Danny Care’s late converted try helped England snatch victory after Samoa led 14-8 at half-time in Lille, and threatened to secure a historic upset.
Ollie Chessum went over for England’s first and while Owen Farrell missed his conversion, he slotted a penalty soon after to surpass Jonny Wilkinson and become England’s all-time points scorer, before Steve Borthwick’s side were rocked by a Samoa fightback.
Nigel Ah-Wong scored twice in quick succession, the second a superb catch from Danny Toala’s high diagonal kick. Duncan Paia’aua appeared to have added a third try for Samoa, but the try was harshly disallowed by the TMO for a knock-on.
England struggled to find any rhythm and Lima Sopoaga stretched Samoa’s lead with a penalty. Farrell hit back with three points of his own, but then made a shocking error with his next place-kick, allowing the shot clock to run down before taking it.
Tumua Manu was then shown a yellow card for hitting Farrell in the air, with Care coming on for Alex Mitchell at scrum-half. He made a quick impact, darting in from a scrum to put England a point behind, with Farrell converting from close range to put them in front.
There was still time for Samoa wing Neria Fomai to burst through and threaten a late winning try, but Care was on hand to bring him down and complete a game-saving late cameo.
