Saturday 4th February 2006

England 21
Samoa 17

England showed a return to form in their Plate semi final win over Samoa, with strong defence earning them a 21 17 victory over the islanders.  England now face Argentina in the Plate Final.  Argentina beat Australia in the other semi final.

England scored first with a try from Nils Mordt but Samoa came back strong, and it took an impressive defensive display from several of the England team to stop them grounding the ball and scoring.

A great break from 19 year old Danny Care failed to deliver another try for England and instead Timoteo Iosua scored for Samoa taking them to just two points behind England (7 5). 

Nils Mordt scored his second with a fantastic run straight under the posts and successful conversions by captain Simon Amor helped England to a 14 5 lead at half time.

There was still much to do to secure victory though in the second half as the Samoan captain Uale Mai scored to bring Samoa to within a score at 14 10.

There were some nervous moments in the second half but another impressive break by Care led to a try by Luke Narraway, again converted by Amor.  Samoa were stopped from scoring by some good defensive play from Care and Mathew Tait, but Iosua finally managed to cross the line.

A high tackle on Amor led to Simaika Mikaele being sin binned.  For the final moments of the game England managed to hold onto their lead and win their place in the Plate final.

Scorers:
England – Tries: Mordt (2), Narraway
Conversions – Amor (3)

Samoa – Tries: Iosua (2), Mai
Conversions – Dulin (2)

England: Luke Narraway (Gloucester), Ben Russell (Saracens), Nils Mordt (London Irish), Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons), Simon Amor, captain (Gloucester), Danny Care (Leeds Tykes), David Strettle (Rotherham).
Replacements: Andy Vilk (Northampton), Henry Paul (Gloucester), Ben Gollings.
Not used: Dave Seymour (Saracens), Ollie Phillips (Newcastle Falcons).

Samoa: Keneti Tofilau, Ofisa Treviranus, Simaika Mikaele, Uale Mai (captain), Henry Bryce, Paul Chan Tung, Timoteo Iosua
Replacements from: Apelu Faaiuga, Alapasa Cordtz, George Akeri, Pulega Palepua, Ekeroma Sefo

Referee: James Leckie (Aus)

Ends.