Samoa vs USA - Rugby World Cup 2007

St. Etienne was the setting for the Pool A match at Rugby World Cup 2007 between the United States of America and Samoa. The North Americans were playing for the third time in the tournament and were going in after playing very well vs England to prevent the reigning World Champions from scoring a bonus point. The same same not true if the USA Eagles´second match as the team was left to contemplate on what might have been as the team lost to Tonga four days later. Samoa, in contrast, had failed to live up to its reputation as being a giant-killer. The South Pacific Island nation had been badly defeated by South Africa first up and then lost to both Tonga and England. The loss to Tonga was a massive upset while Samoa were unable to challenge England despite the team having been humiliated 36-0 by South Africa on the previous weekend.

The teams were therefore viewing this match as a must win and a last-chance saloon. The USA still had to face the Pool leaders, South Africa but that match was not considered one which the Eagles could win. At Rugby World Cup 2003 the USA had lost to Fiji by a single point in Brisbane and were unlucky as flyhalf Mike Hercus missed a conversion on full time to let Fiji off the hook as the Pacific Island nation won 19-18. Four years on and it was a similar scenario despite the USA fielding a very different team. Such was the extent of the changes to the USA Eagels lineup in the years between Australia 2003 and France 2007 that Mike Hercus was one of only four surviors from the one point loss vs Fiji. The USA had lost some of the biggest names in the history of American rugby to retirement including backrowers Dave Hodges and Dan Lyle. The team was also missing its most decorated back of the time, Paul Emerick to suspension. It was therefore talked about as a certain Samoan victory and the USA were not predicted to do so well.

Scripts were not so correct at France 2007 as Argentina made clear in the first match of the tournament and the USA, indeed, came close to completing would would have been a major comeback victory vs Samoa. The favorites had been the better side in the frist half with the USA, as against Tonga, playing below par in the first 40 minutes and then having to mount a secondhalf fight back. Samoa held a 22-3 halftime lead with the USA really not playing well at all but the tide turned after the interval and the USA scored two superb secondhalf tries with the now established USA stars, Taku Ngwenya and Lou Stanfill dotting down. Unfortunately for the North Americans the comeback came too late and Samoa were able to hold on to claim a four point victory.

While Ngwenya´s try vs South Africa four days latter was officially the try of the World Cup, his try vs Samoa also showed his pace and stepping abilities and was his first international try. Remarkably, Ngwenya made the USA World Cup squad and played all four matches despite being uncapped before the tournament. Todd Clever was also an amateur player at the time but had an outstanding World Cup which attracted offers to play abroad and he signed a two year deal to play Super Rugby for the Lions in South Africa. 

USA vs Tonga - Rugby World Cup 2007

Four days after facing England and giving the 2003 World Champions a good match, the United States of America was playing its second match of the tournament. The opponent was the Pacific Island nation of Tonga and it was the first match for the men in red. The USA had given England a good match in preventing a strong team from scoring four tries which meant the Tier One side missed out on earning a bonus point. England had no such issues vs its two other Tier Two opponents - Samoa and Tonga.

The clash in Montpellier between the USA and Tonga was to be a tournament defining match for both sides. Leading into the tournament the only team considered capable of giving either England or South Africa a good match was Samoa. What transpired proved that the predictions of many to be off the mark. Tonga were the biggest surprize in giving both Tier One nations hard matches. Tonga came very close to defeating South Africa and in the first half vs England were indeed looking strong. Samoa was thrashed by the Springboks in its first match, conceeding over 50 points and, despite improvement vs England, the men in blue were well beaten. Tonga, before facing England and South Africa, had already defeated Samoa and the USA.

The win over the USA was well documented by USA rugby officials as being a hard pill to swallow. The North Americans, to this day, believe it should have been a USA victory. The major reason why it was not is the start of the match with the USA letting in a try, something that proved fatal. Had the 2011 team been together and had the same experience the liklihood is that the Eagles would have been victorious over Tonga. The match was a strong learning curve and proved very useful for the USA in its preperation for Rugby World Cup 2011. The teams leaking of tries would not repeat itself in 2011 and the USA was a much better team as Ireland failed to score four tries and Italy´s bonus point came from a penalty try. The win over Russia was a defining moment in showing the maturity of the North Americans. It underlined the progress that had been made as a team and, especially in terms of preperation.

Four years earlier, the end of the match between England and the USA was ruined by a dangerous tackle by USA center, Paul Emerick. The tackle on Olly Barclay ended his World Cup as he was suspended. At the time Emerick was the USA´s most decorated player. He was a professional based in Europe and had been for several years. He was surrounded by USA based players, many have since gone to to pick up long term professional contracts for leading teams. The young fullback Chris Wyles, for instance, won the Aviva Premiership with Saracens in 2011 and Todd Clever is a Japanese Champion with Suntory Sungoliath. Other names to emerge include Lou Stanfill and Taku Ngwenya.

Despite the result not bing in the favor of the North Americans, the 2007 clash vs Tonga in Montpellier was nonetheless a great game of rugby. It came at a time when Tier One sides were pushing for a reduction in World Cup participants from 20 teams to 16. France 2007 showed that this argument was a weak one as Tier Two games not only gave Tier One teams good games but also had great games amongst themselves and did so with strong crowds. Curiously the only two matches which were not either sold outor close to it were Tonga´s matches vs the USA and Samoa in Montpellier.