Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.
As the evening drew to a close in the UK, the news came out of New Zealand that Big Ted, that's Andrew Sheridan the man mountain prop, was on his way home with a shoulder injury. Big loss? Some would say yes, others would say he isn't the player he was and that when he went off against Argentina, England gained in pace and impetus. Time will tell.... Back to the morning.
I hate early mornings with a passion; well I do in the week. There's something wrong about getting up at 4, showering while still asleep; boxers and socks on inside-out, shirt buttons done up wrong, into the car and heading to the airport which is an hour away for a flight that leaves before 9am. It's just wrong. To say my head is all over the shop on mornings like this is an understatement of gigantic proportions. On two occasions I have returned from week long jaunts to Barcelona and Dusseldorf (well near as damn it) to find immaculately prepared bowls of cereal (without milk) waiting on the kitchen top. Yes, early mornings and me are not best buddies.
Except at the moment... Spring in the step, coffee machine on, ITV cranked up: I've watched more ITV this week than I have in the last 2.5 years - terrestrial channel of the year says their blurb: omitting to mention that the full title of the award is Terrestrial Channel Of The Year (With No Number In Its Name).
Enter the Samoans, re-enter the Namibians. Groundhog Day for the Namibians you would think. Pacific Islanders with big wingers shape up to face them. This time, the Namibians have 80 minutes of rugby in their legs from the weekend, while the Samoans were sitting with their feet up watching. Would Namibia tire....
A glorious evening sun greeted the sides in Rotorua, but the wind which buffeted the flags in the open stadium suggested difficult conditions once more for kickers. Barely had the sides kicked off when a missed touch reached Fotuali'i who pushed off a weak tackle and hared into the corner, leaving a difficult conversion for Tusi Pisi, who successfully slotted it. Playing with the wind, Samoa camped in the Namibian half and looked like racking up a cricket score, Pisi adding a penalty from beneath the sticks. 10-0 after 10 minutes, and so far the game could be described as the third Pisi brother..... Easy Pisi.
This brought Namibia to life, but Van Zyl was stripped of possession on the Samoan line and a chance was wasted. When Samoa had the ball though, they oozed confidence and looked dangerous. A line-out turned over in Namibian territory, ball spread wide and three phases later Tuilagi went over untouched and when Pisi made it 3 out of 3, making my tricky kicking conditions comment look stupid, Samoa were keeping their point a minute scoring rate after 17 minutes.
A 24th minute Pisi penalty made it 20-0 and the game was becoming more and more like men against boys. There wasn't one area of the game where Namibia could live with a Samoan side who gave every sign that their win against Australia in Sydney earlier in the year was no fluke. The first thing to go slightly awry was the loss of the excellent Tusi Pisi and Tuifua, who both limped off injured within seconds of each other. This barely knocked Samoa out of their stride and as the ball was switched wide to the left once more after a messy scrum, Tuilagi powered through 3 tackles for his second and his side's 3rd try.
Only Samoan wastefulness stopped the margin getting wider, though they did make things difficult for themselves when Williams tackled Kotze high and without arms and got a deserved yellow card. Kotze almost had his head knocked off. Namibia's strange use of the penalty that came with that came to nothing, and the half-time interval arrived with the score 25-0 and the game all but over.
Half time: Manu Samoa 25 Namibia 0
Turnovers were killing Namibia, and try as I might after 50 minutes, I struggled to think of a time when Namibia had secured 5 phases of possession. The ten minutes without Williams had been slightly disjointed, but on the verge of regaining full strength, Tuilagi was sent over for a third time, only to be pulled back for a forward pass. Williams slotted a penalty, for which advantage had been played, and it was only a matter of time till Samoa scored the bonus point try, and from a missed touch, Tuilagi received a pass 25 metres out, haired (pun intended) down the line and meandered round under the posts to complete an easy hat-trick. Williams converted in the absence of Pisi to make it 35-0.
Next Williams went under the posts and converted himself to make it 42-0. Namibia were a shadow of their first game selves. Samoa better than Fiji? Undoubtedly. Namibia tired after their weekend exertions? Definitely. Damage limitation was now the order of the day. And limit the damage they did, when a clever chip and chase by Winkler, plus an inside pass, set Van Wyk through to score an unconverted try. With 18 minutes to go, there was no hope of a comeback, but at least Namibia had avoided becoming the 9th victims of a World Cup whitewash.
Monsieur Poite, the referee, was in the action again shortly afterwards, giving a second yellow card this time to Kitshoff the Namibian blindside for cynically slowing the ball down at the breakdown. Without an influential forward, the Namibian scrum had no answer and after a series of penalties, and re-set scrums, M. Poite ran off between the sticks, merrily whistling a penalty try, converted again by Williams to make it 49-5.
Another Van Wyk for Namibia at the other end almost resulted in a second try, but the Africans' inability to turn over the ball was costly again, though a loose Samoan pass did mean a 5 metre scrum and an attempt at more consolation. For once, Namibia recycled possession multiple times, but try as they might, nothing could come of it. Samoa lost the line out, Namibia recycled once more better than they had the entire game (certainly Samoa had taken their foot off the gas) and Kotze darted through a gap to stretch for the line and touch down under the posts. His own kick brought a modicum (only a modicum mind) of respectability to the scoreline at 49-12.
Full Time: Manu Samoa 49 Namibia 12
A game that was never in doubt from when Samoa crossed for the first try in the 46th second. Namibia just weren't able to deal with the power of the Samoans up front. While against Fiji they managed, the combination of being slightly less fresh and what I consider to be the more traditional power game that Samoa have versus the rather sporadic and random power offered by Fiji, their first opponents. Tuilagi's hat-trick could have been finished by most international wingers, and the cloud on the horizon for Samoa will be the injury to Pisi, who made them tick in the first 25 minutes.
Where now for the 2 sides? Samoa have three tough encounters to come, but will feel confident that they can shock anyone. Namibia move on to play Wales and their neighbours South Africa; a daunting prospect.
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