Fine finish: George Pisi
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Samoa sent Six Nations holders Wales crashing to their fifth consecutive loss after the visitors secured a 26-19 win at the Millennium Stadium on Friday.
It was the hosts' fourth negative to the islanders and followed Rob Howley's charges' defeat to Argentina at the same venue only one week ago.
Suddenly a November whitewash seems likely, with Wales now preparing to face New Zealand and Australia in their final Test series fixtures.
The visitors came out of the blocks firing as they looked to kick on from their impressive win over Canada in Colwyn Bay a week ago. And they managed to cross the whitewash within two minutes against the sterner opposition when number eight Taiasina Tuifua broke through a somewhat non-existent defence before recycled ball was moved wide to Paul Williams and then George Pisi, with the Northampton Saints centre sending over Faatoina Autagavaia on the right.
The impressive Tusi Pisi's conversion made it 0-7 with the match still very much in its infancy. For Welsh supporters, it was a moment of realisation, realisation that their Grand Slam champions were in for a big test of their credentials.
Leigh Halfpenny, who was on-form with the boot in Cardiff, pulled the hosts back to 3-7 with 16 minutes played after a ruck infringement and then cut matters down to a point on the half-hour. By this point Wales had been forced to make a change, as Richard Hibbard was hurt.
Despite their six points, Wales were not having things their own way but were the recipients of a gift from Pisi, with the fly-half throwing a suicide pass that Ashley Beck gobbled up and then set off for a 70 metre sprint to the whitewash. Halfpenny made it 13-7 with the extras.
The assured Pisi did reduce the arrears off the kicking tee with the last play of the first-half, which made the contest beautifully balanced at 13-10 with 40 minutes remaining in Cardiff.
After the turnaround the match continued to excite and when Kahn Fotuali'i scooted down the blindside at a ruck close to halfway to set up centre Pisi for a superb finish in the corner, the Samoans were ahead again. Fly-half Tusi could not add the extras however, and one wondered whether that missed conversion on 47 minutes would come back to hurt them.
An exchange of penalties from Halfpenny and Pisi then troubled the scorers as the lead changed hands five times during the second-half. Up 21-19, Samoa repelled a rare attack by Wales soon after, with the hosts struggling to make any real headway with ball in hand.
Instead it was Samoa who had the final say when David Lemi kicked ahead, Halfpenny and Autagavaia both missed the bouncing ball to hand replacement Johnny Leota a try late on.
Man of the match: A toss-up between the half-backs in blue. Let's go for Tusi Pisi's effort.
Moment of the match: The finish from George Pisi was something special. It had to be him.
Villain of the match: Maybe of a couple of let's say 'choice' tackles could make it in there but there was nothing major to write home about. Next up for the Welsh will be New Zealand.
The scorers:
For Wales:
Try: Beck
Con: Halfpenny
Pen: Halfpenny 4
For Samoa:
Tries: Autagavaia, G Pisi, Leota
Con: T Pisi
Pen: T Pisi 3
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Ashley Beck, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Ryan Jones (capt), 5 Ian Evans, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Aaron Jarvis, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 Sam Warburton, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Scott Williams.
Samoa: 15 Faatoina Autagavaia, 14 Paul Perez, 13 George Pisi, 12 Paul Williams, 11 David Lemi (capt), 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Taiasina Tuifua, 7 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 6 Ofisa Treviranus, 5 Filo Paulo, 4 Daniel Leo, 3 Census Johnston, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Villiamu Afatia, 18 James Johnston, 19 tbc, 20 Tivaini Fomai, 21 Jeremy Su'a, 22 Johnny Leota, 23 Robert Lilomaiava.
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant referees: Wayne Barnes (England), Jérôme Garces (France)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
By Adam Kyriacou
@PlanetRugbyAK
Comments
BokAvenger says...
Ha, ha, ha... Samoa Harpoon Wales yet northern hemisphere scribes like Stephen Jones will continue to deride southern hemisphere rugby as basketball.
Posted 05:54 17th November 2012
yank says...
You can't wrap this up and call it anything but a severe embarassment for Wales and the 6 Nations. For God's sake this is Samoa they lost to - and very convincingly, too. And the next twoo weeks will see them losing by a combined 100 points !! How the mighty have fallen.....
Posted 05:28 17th November 2012
hayj05 says...
Impressive stuff Samoa. They love playing in Cardiff don't they, you reckon they bring out the old tape of those historic WC victories everytime they play there?
Wales are clearly lost without Gatland but even if they were in form I'm sure this Samoan side still would of given them a run for their money. They were accurate at set piece, cleaned out well, & ran & tackled hard.
Wales well... I almost felt sorry for them, they'll be back though. Just make sure it's against the Wallabies & not the AB's.
Posted 05:05 17th November 2012
Waz4before says...
@ atg77 - but if Scotland do beat the Boks, Wales are down to 9th - who would have forecast that???
Posted 05:05 17th November 2012
Tha_mai says...
Impressive win for Samoa, worth a 3.30am start for me - those last 15-20 min were where in previous years they may have lost it under pressure, but disciple and commitment were there today, thought the subs fitted in well without disruption, I'm unsure on MoM would rate the whole team.
A few min from the end the commentator Davies said 'it's gone horribly wrong for Wales' I don't know that it so much 'went wrong' as they were beaten today by a better team.
Both sides have big challenges ahead, so forget this one and they'll be focused on NZ and France.
@ curlymac - well that's a good question. What does Warren Gatland do 6mths before naming his squad. Back home painting the house in NZ? He won't have highlighted too many Welsh names after this game.
Posted 04:33 17th November 2012
swells07 says...
man oh man what a november this is turning out to be!! great game samoa!
Posted 04:09 17th November 2012
excitationz says...
Impressive Samoa. After watching Samoa basically beat up Canada a week ago (Canada not top 10, but nevertheless, not complete pushovers), I knew then that Wales were going to be in tough... breakdown, I've never seen a team quicker and more efficient, same in this Wales match. Samoa are on the move up I feel, look forward to their next test.
Posted 04:03 17th November 2012
runnrugby says...
The good thing about this samoan side the past couple of years is that they have many NZ born and raised players. Our tight five all NZ born and they know how to scrummage which has been an area samoa have struggled in the past. Malo Samoa! CHEHUUU!
Posted 03:51 17th November 2012
ztekkiwi says...
All hail to the Samoan forwards; they were dominant at the set scrums and powerfully dynamic at the breakdown. The pace of Samoa's loose play seem to take the Welshies by surprise and the physical impact at the breakdown was nothing short of shocking. Wales always seemed out-manned and when numbers were even they were overpowered. Samoa retained their own ball and nicked many a red and white Gilbert left unprotected. The breakdown play really looked like two sides from different levels of play (and two different Hemispheres). With the AllBlacks on the near horizon Wales can only hope that they clear their lines before Robbie Deans and the sputtering Wallabies come to town if there's to be any joy for a Christmas in Wales.
Posted 03:48 17th November 2012
Missionary says...
Great result for Samoa but crikey, Wales were woeful. 6Nations champions but they played like anything but. Wales firmly in the second tier - in danger of dropping to the third.
Posted 03:15 17th November 2012
papachinzo says...
Oh dear... Over rated theory proved to be fact? Yes!
North and Cuthbert are useless. Warburton a storytellers legend.
Posted 03:12 17th November 2012
Kiwikev says...
And someone recently posted that the Welsh were overrated...Say it isn't so!
Posted 02:49 17th November 2012
marzie says...
In each of the last three Grand Slam seasons Wales have won - in only seven years lest anyone forget - they have looked sparkling, stunning, world-beating. In every interim period and with the odd regional exception ie Ospreys in the Rabo, they have been utter muck. Discuss, please, the polarity, Welsh fans.
Posted 02:29 17th November 2012
ollieosprey says...
It's really going to annoy me. everyone jumping on the Wales are s**t bandwagon, everyone loves to bash the champions, IN MY OPINION! its a good team under a coach way out of his depth, Wales literally had no structure, that was evident, only try in two weeks was an intercept... says it all... samoa were good, tusi pisi played the field very well... but under a clueless Wales team... at the end of the day, the players can be as talented and as fit as possible but if they are following a bad game plan they aren't going to win
Posted 02:23 17th November 2012
5Lock4ward says...
Mr. Gatland is going to have a hard time naming too many Welsh names come Lions time.
Posted 02:01 17th November 2012
Isograford says...
Way to go New Zealand C!
Posted 01:08 17th November 2012
mlbp says...
The most overrated team in the world, definitely...
Posted 00:48 17th November 2012
otagocookie says...
Samoa what a win .
Posted 00:36 17th November 2012
kitch says...
as much as i support the underdog, i feel wales were hard done by by the leniency shown samoa.
Their first try was a cracker, however their second came from a knock on by samoa for which wales recieved little advantage.. in the ruck the ref was telling blue to get their hands off (clearly prevented the ball coming back), the next thing samoa came out with the ball then try!
when wales were hot on attack, late in the game, 10m out from the line, every ruck samoa were well in front of the hind-most foot, samoa turned the ball over from one guy diving off his feet then another in a clearly offside position picks the ball up!
its great to hear welsh commentators asking what the heck barnes was doing when a high shot was committed right in front of him!.. and what about that clean out by the samoan who grabbed the welsh guy around the neck and pulled and dumped him backwards!!.. that shouldve been a clear yellow!.. imagine the outcry if an AB had done that!
add to that numerous tackling offences ..not releasing the ball, not releasing the tackler and not rolling away and not staying on their feet, were all offenses that wales did not get away with!.. the ref warned samoa in the first half but then seemed to back off and let them away with it for the rest of the game.
having said that wales were dreadful.. one clear instance where they had a 2 man overlap and they kicked the damn thing.. then theres the continual up n unders which gave the ball straight back! And the way they fell apart in the scrums was just embarrassing.
Posted 00:29 17th November 2012
LondonWasp says...
DAM!!!
was not expecting this result!
Posted 00:20 17th November 2012