Samoa opened their Rugby World Cup campaign with a 43-10 win over Chile in Pool D at the Stade de Bordeaux.
Despite outside-centre Ulupano Junior Seuteni receiving a yellow card and Chile prop Matias Dittus scoring a try, Samoa led 19-10 at half-time thanks to four penalties by former Australia fly-half Christian Leali’ifano and a try through full-back Duncan Paia’aua.
Samoa scored three second-half tries, two coming from the driving maul and another through scrum-half Jonathan Taumateine. Yellow cards were also exchanged, with Chile replacement second-row Alfonso Escobar and replacement prop Esteban Inostroza and Samoa replacement scrum-half Ereatara Enari all sent to the sin-bin. Replacement prop Sama Malolo scored his second try of the game just before the final whistle.
“I thought the first half we were a bit sloppy but in the second half the boys really showed up and we’re happy to come away with a win,” said Mastercard Player of the Match Theo McFarland. “It’s always an honour to pull on the jersey for Samoa.”
Chile captain Martin Sigren said of the support in Bordeaux: “I feel so alive being in the middle of all this, with this amazing Chilean crowd cheering you. I’ve got my family here as well so it’s so special.
“It was a really tough game. In the first half we had our hopes up. I thought we really had it. We really wanted the win. We had the hope that we could take it. They kept it going in the second half and it was tough to keep up with their pace.”
Samoa captain Michael Alaalatoa said: “The first half was everything we expected it to be, we knew Chile were going to come out firing. After the game last week, we saw how physical their forwards are, they lived up to that in the first half.
“You can see by the support here, it feels like all of Chile flew over, which is great, it’s what you want.
“They probably caught us a bit off-guard at first but it was great to get that try before half-time and get the momentum back our way.”
Chile head coach Pablo Lemoine said: “We expected a great game. We missed too many things but definitely Chilean rugby has changed. That’s something good.”
Samoa head coach Seilala Mapusua said: “Great to get our campaign under way. A lot to take from that game and we’ll be reviewing it. Full credit to Chile, they really took it to us today and put us under pressure and that’s exactly what we needed.”
When asked what inspired his team’s second-half performance, Mapusua added: “Probably a few words [at half-time] I can’t say on live TV, just about trusting our structures and our processes and finishing off our combinations, so it was good to see the boys come out and do that.”
“There’s quite a few sore bodies, we’re meant to be the physical side but Chile really gave it to our boys. Chile were firing like we expected. We were expecting it but to actually face it the first 30 or 40 minutes was quite tough. But we finished the first half well and then we started the second half really well.”
On why he pointed to the sky after scoring:
“It was a special moment for me. I dedicated that try to my late cousin that just passed away last week, that’s why I pointed up to the sky, so it was a special moment for myself and my family.”
On what worked well and what didn’t for Samoa:
“I thought we were really good at making our gain lines, but finishing our sets and coming away with the points is something to work on for us because test matches you only get a few opportunities and we had a few really good runs and just didn’t finish it off, we had a dropped the ball or forward pass or something that ruined the set, so really completing our sets.”
On the vocal Chile supporters:
“There was a lot of Chile supporters today, they were really loud and we couldn’t hear each other so it’s really good to see for their country and for the sport.”
Jonathan Taumateine, scrum-half
“It was our first game and we were a bit rusty in the first half, but we managed to connect together in the second half and put on a few more points. Credit to Chile, they came out strong in the first half.”
On his try:
“I guess I was just running a good line and the ball just popped up to me. It was a plan for the lock (second-row) to score but he didn’t get there and it popped up and I was there. It was lucky.”
On whether his haircut helped him fly through the air to score:
“That’s not wrong! I really love anime, and this is my favourite – Naruto Shippuden, he has blonde hair so I dyed my hair blonde.”
On his family watching:
“My family are watching back home, I got on the phone to them straight away. I spoke to mum first, it’s always mum first. Gotta get on the phone to mum first. They were proud.”
“100%, they can hurt! They are strong. Everybody is fine, a few niggles, but nothing serious.”
On why the game swung Samoa’s way after a slow start:
“I wouldn’t say it was a slow start – you have to give credit where credit is due and Chile came out of the blocks firing. There’s a lot Chile supporters here, we definitely noticed that as well. Being our first game we took a bit longer than we needed to to get into the game but it was great to get that try before the first half.”
On the first half:
“Definitely a bit battered and bruised, In terms of Chile’s physicality, it was great to go toe-to-toe with them.”
On being prepared for the World Cup:
“You can talk about it as much as you want but compares to when you’re out there. And today the Chileans came in numbers – it was quite special to be part of, but we were able to draw energy from that. We’ll definitely be better prepared for that moving forward.”
On showcasing Samoan rugby after missing out on games because of the Covid-19 pandemic:
“It’s a massive opportunity. The longer we spend together the better we are, and I’m sure it’ll be the same for this tournament, the more cohesion and chemistry we’ll build. Along with playing tough opposition, we’ll be all the better for it.”
Seilala Mapusua, coach
On what they take out of the game:
“We’ve been waiting for a while to play our first game so to be able to do that and walk away with a bonus-point win is great start. Chile were amazing, we knew we would have to grind out a win, it wasn’t the prettiest win but that’s absolutely fine by me.”
On the messages ahead of the Argentina game:
“Don’t drop the ball, ha ha. We have to nail our basics, make sure that we hold onto the ball because Chile almost punished us today and the opposition coming up, if we give them an inch they’ll take a mile and we’ll be under the posts discussing where to go to next. So there’ll be big emphasis on our skill set, better than we showed today, and that’s the exciting thing.
On whether this performance would be enough to beat Argentina:
“We’re going to have to do a lot of work between now and next Friday if we’re to compete against a wounded Los Pumas. We know they will come out firing. No, we’re not where we need to be but I’m confident we can get there.”
On the importance of having players who have represented other countries at the World Cup:
“There’s players that have joined Samoa through the eligibility amendment that I believe has strengthened our team. As a coach I have a wider pool of players to select from. In our group we have a 50-test All Black [Charlie Faumuina] who knows what it takes to win a World Cup. We have other ex-All blacks and ex-Wallabies who are passionate about representing their families and their Samoan heritage so they only add to the quality of the group and they are joining some pretty good players we already have. It’s a really nice mix.”
Theo McFarland, Mastercard Player of the Match
On being at the World Cup after recovering from injury:
“It’s pretty special, mate. I thought the first half we were a bit sloppy but in the second half the boys really showed up and happy to come away with a win today. It’s always an honour to pull on the jersey and represent Samoa, where I’m from.”
Michael Alaalatoa, co-captain and prop
On how hard the first half was:
“It was everything we expected it to be. We knew Chile were going to come out firing. We saw that in last week’s game (against Japan) – how physical their forwards are, how expansive they are in the backs – and they lived up to that. You can feel all the support here … it looks like all of Chile flew out for the game, which is great, it’s what you want. It probably caught us a little bit off guard at first, so it was good to get that try at half time and get the momentum back our way.”
Seilala Mapusua, head coach
On the game:
“Great to get our campaign under way. A lot to take from that game and we’ll be reviewing it. Full credit to Chile, they really took it to us today and put us under pressure and that’s exactly what we needed.”
On Samoa’s dominant period at the start of the second half:
“Probably a few words [at half-time] I can’t say on live TV, just about trusting our structures and our processes and finishing off our combinations, so it was good to see the boys come out and do that.”
Javier Carrasco, prop
On his feelings after the game:
“I’m happy because at times we showed very good rugby, but at the same time I’m a little sad because we made a lot of mistakes, we made a lot of indiscipline and at this level it is impossible to win a game by doing so many penalties. I know we can give much more.”
Salvador Lues, prop
On the positives Chile can take from the match:
“I think one of the positives is the attitude, we never backed down. It was a tough loss, we really wanted to take this one home but that’s sport.”
On Chile’s first half performance:
“Yeah we were really happy we thought we were right there but some bad decisions we made in the second half, in 10 minutes we gave some penalties and let the game slip away and that’s enough for Samoa to take it away, and that’s what happened. But we will learn from it, we’re a new team so we’ll just keep growing.”
On the support from the crowd:
“It was beautiful to see how people are excited for our team, it’s new to us, we felt it, we felt like we were at home, it was really nice.”
On his family travelling to France to watch him play:
“My family are touring here with me, my dad and my three sisters are here, they are following the team everywhere we go so a bit of pressure but it’s great.”
On what the team will work on for next match against England:
“Discipline. I think that’s our biggest factor. England is the creator of the game so we have to work really hard. I think our problem today was the maul, I think they (England) are going to attack the maul, we didn’t respond enough so I think that will be our objective, to really rush defence and see how they (England) react.”
Domingo Saavedra, centre
On what positives Chile can take away from the match:
“We’re disappointed, we fought to win this game but I think something we take from this is in times some really good defence. Unfortunately our discipline wasn’t really good but our defence at times was really good.”
Pablo Lemoine, head coach
On his thoughts on the match:
“It is a high level and we could see and feel the difference between both teams, but I think that it’s a very enriching experience for the Chilean rugby team. Even though we lost, it was a fantastic experience. That is the first objective when you are playing rugby, to learn, and I hope from one [Rugby World Cup] cycle to another we will have more opportunities to play games like this.”
On making four changes at half-time:
“Regarding the changes, clearly they didn’t work well. We had planned for a close first half and we were thinking about [then] launching our forwards to give us more energy in attack but it didn’t work well. Of the four substitutes, one got injured and two others got yellow cards [Alfonso Escobar and Esteban Inostroza]. In terms of leadership, I would say the team was not ready. There was a lack of discipline. There were penalties against us.
“At lower levels one can have little disconnects with each other but not at this level. We need to focus more on that.”
On his team’s movement:
“We managed to create some dynamic situations with great attacks and I think it was good to put pressure on the other team, and we managed to respect our game plan. We gave away too many useless penalties.”
On what he has learned:
“It is important to qualify why we are here: we came here with the main goal to perform well and to win. Taking into our account that our players are playing in some championships that are not at a high level, it was important to understand the rules, the atmosphere; all this brings new things to handle at an emotional level.
“What we are doing now is building a new team from those experiences so that we can take advantage of everything we have learned here in these games.”
On playing England next:
“You really have to be smart against a nation like England but the players will be prepared for that. We have to watch the videos and learn from the silly mistakes.”
On his feelings about the scrum:
“There is a physical aspect in all that. The Samoan players [play in good] leagues and championships. It is really tough to dominate against such a team. But we could perform better, develop a platform.
“We were lacking discipline against Japan. As an ex-forward player myself, it is a part of the game I really enjoy but our opponent was better than us today and we need to work harder on that.”
Martin Sigren, captain
On the difference in Chile’s performance in the first half and the second half, when they did not add to their points tally:
“We could see a clear difference between the first half and the second half. In the second half they had other intentions. They started to destroy what we had built and we started to have some doubts. We made too many mistakes and that really cost us the game. Too many individual mistakes have an effect on the whole team. We finally paid the price physically.
“That’s what I take from the game – a lack of tactical and technical discipline.
“We were playing against a high-level team, we were really eager to win. The victory has escaped us and it’s difficult to endure. We still have two matches to go. We worked hard to qualify for this tournament.”
On playing England and Argentina next:
“We have the two toughest challenges ahead. I know England love their set-piece so obviously we will have to work on that after today.”
Pablo Lemoine, head coach
On how he feels Chilean rugby is faring:
“We expected a great game. No rugby today. We missed too many things but definitely Chilean rugby has changed. That’s something good.”
On the difference between his team and Samoa:
“We made too many mistakes. The discipline is something crucial. We made silly mistakes.”
On how to fix his team’s indiscipline:
“Working. It’s the only way we know.”
Martin Sigren, captain
On how it feels to play in front of 12,000 Chile fans:
“It’s tough to put in to words. It’s such an amazing feeling. I feel so alive being in the middle of all this, with this amazing Chilean crowd cheering you. I’ve got my family supporting here as well. It is so special.”
On how difficult it was physically after playing Japan to come in to this match:
“It was a really tough game. In the first half we had our hopes up. I thought we really had it. We really wanted the win. We had the hope that we could take it. They kept it going in the second half and it was tough to keep up with their pace.”
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