England survived a major scare and needed late tries from Iain Balshaw and Phil Vickery to escape with a 35-22 victory against Samoa.

The Islanders threatened one of the greatest upsets when they led 22-20 on the hour thanks to 17 points from the boot of Earl Va’a and a stunning early try from Semo Setiti.
England's Jonny Wilkinson finished with 15 points - but his key contribution was the cross-kick for Balshaw’s 70^th minute decider after Neil Back’s early score and a penalty try had got them back in the hunt.

Samoa had been straightforward about how they would approach the game – attack with width at every opportunity – and they did so in the first 15 minutes to stun the large contingent of England fans in the 50,647 Telstra Dome crowd.

A second minute penalty from Va’a was cause for concern and 10 minutes into the game the Samoan’s put together 10 phases to score a stunning try.

Lome Fa’atau made the key incision down the right and when the ball came back to the left with captain Semo Setiti sliding over to score in the fifth minute.

The conversion put the Islanders in the clear and the alarm bells started to ring when Wilkinson missed with a long-range penalty – ending his perfect run of 24 successful international kicks since June.

When England did get their hands on the ball their attackers were isolated. They struggled at the lineout and were relieved when Va’a hit the post when another penalty was conceded in the 21^st minute.

Finally the favourites settled an opened their account when Wilkinson pinned Samoa into their own 22 with a penalty and the lineout win was driven 15 yards with Back claiming the score.

Wilkinson drilled over the conversion from wide on the left and he added a penalty in the 28^th minute to level the scores.

Va’a, though, was in terrific form with the boot as Samoa kept up the pressure with penalties in the 32^nd and 34^th minutes – while Wilkinson hit the post from point-blank range to show he is mortal after all.

England were still stuttering but their best period of pressure came shortly before the break with Wilkinson pulling his side back to 13-16 down with a second penalty from in front of the uprights.

And after the interval Samoa started to feel the squeeze and they were penned back for a five-minute spell as the big men battered away at their line. Samoa knocked on close to their line and collapsed the scrum that followed to give away a penalty try that Wilkinson converted.

The Islanders kept on playing, though, and their disjointed opponents lost a couple of lineouts and gave away a pair of penalties to Va’a in the 55^th and 61^st minutes. When England did get going, Ben Cohen and Balshaw surging down the right flank, all they came away with was a Wilkinson drop-goal for a meagre 23-22 lead 16 minutes from time.

But finally the real breakthrough came. Wilkinson’s cross-kick was floated behind the last defender on the right and Balshaw timed his run perfectly to catch and accelerate into the corner for the score.

Suddenly all the tumblers had clicked into place and the safe had been cracked.

Kay stole a lineout, Robinson broke away and a series of passes ended with Vickery breaking a tackle to score his first try in international rugby and Wilkinson’s conversion secured an unassailable 13-point lead.