Wales slumped to their fifth straight defeat as Samoa gained revenge for their World Cup defeat last year. And some of the tries were pretty good too.
Considering Ireland are on a run of five straight defeats too, we won’t start slagging Wales off but the local press are up in (Cardiff) arms this morning after watching their side go down 26-19 to Samoa last night.
The two sides met at last year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand and Wales emerged 17-10 victors thanks to a late Shane Williams try. This time Samoa completed the job and it was a deserved victory too.
The visitors were on the board in just 64 seconds as Fa’atoina Autagavaia crossed following the disintegration of the Welsh line by Tai Hu’ifua.
The boot of Leigh Halfpenny kept the home side in touch and they would lead 13-7 at the break thanks to an intercept try by Ashley Beck.
Not long after the restart more Samoan power saw them back in front and the finish by George Pisi in the corner was fantastic.
And then, with time almost up, and with Wales trailing by two, a blistering run and kick through by wing David Lemi was finished off by Johnny Leota to secure the Samoa win.
This was Rob Howley’s last game in charge in place of the injured Warren Gatland. The Lions head honcho will be back in the hot seat for the upcoming games with New Zealand and Australia and with Wales now under serious pressure to retain their crucial top eight spot, it’s a big job for the Kiwi.
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