Shock Samoa win leaves Australia to pick up pieces ahead of World Cup

SAMOA secured arguably their finest ever victory yesterday and dealt a damaging blow to Australia with the World Cup only two months away.

The Samoans posted four tries against the hosts' two in the match in Sydney and led 17-0 after the first half hour, with powerful winger Alesana Tuilagi setting an ominous tone with a long-range try against the run of play in the 11th minute.

The Samoans were more aggressive at the breakdowns and in defence, unsettling a below-strength Australian starting line-up that was missing most of its Super 15-winning Queensland Reds and featured four players making their run-on debuts.

Samoa's biggest previous upset victory was against Wales in the 1991 World Cup - one of three test wins over Wales in all - and they had never previously beaten any one of rugby's five leading countries. They had also lost all previous four tests to Australia.

Head coach Fuimaono Tafua rated the win as the best ever achieved by Samoa. "Yes, it's a historic moment for us. Beating the second-ranked side in the world," he said.

Assistant coach Brian McLean said the Samoa squad had showed it could be more than just competitive against the top teams in the world.

"Today for us was about respect," he said. "We wanted to get some respect. Hopefully we've done that.

"For us it wasn't really about who was in the Wallaby team. It was more about us trying to play a game we could play effectively."

McLean said the Samoans even kept a few things in store for the World Cup, where he's earmarked a potential quarter-final against yesterday's opponents.

The Samoans led from the third minute, with Tuilagi and full back Paul Williams scoring in the first half, while lock Kane Thompson and centre George Pisi scored tries in the second. The Wallabies scored 13 of their points in the ten minutes when Samoa were down to 14 men, with Daniel Leo in the sin-bin.

Matt Giteau, playing fly-half in the absence of Quade Cooper, scored 18 points from a late try, two conversions and three penalties for Australia. His opposite, Tusi Pisi, landed two penalties and three conversions for the Samoans.

Samoa fielded a completely new XV to the team that finished last in the recent Pacific Nations Cup tournament, while Australia had frontline players on the bench or out injured only a week after Queensland wrapped up the Super 15 title.

Renowned for heavy defence, but often inclined to fade at the end of matches against the top nations, Samoa held it together throughout the 80 minutes against the Wallabies only a week out from the Tri-Nations.

"The main focus this week was to believe in ourselves. We came out here just to win this game," Tuilagi said."We knew it was going to be a tough game but we believed in ourselves and, thank God, we did it today."

Australia coach Robbie Deans said the Samoans got the better of the physical exchanges and his team needed a massive improvement ahead of next weekend's Test against South Africa.

"They defended strongly. They attacked the breakdown effectively and turned the ball over and profited off that," he said. "It's given us an awakening in terms of what's going to be required to be competitive within six days."

Captain Rocky Elsom said the Australians let themselves down by not being effective enough in attack.

"We weren't good enough at what we were doing. Sure they put on good shots and they played very well and deserved the win, but at the end of the day we weren't good enough," he said. "What's important now is our response. We've got six days until we play the Springboks. Dwelling on things is not going to serve us well."

For Tuilagi's try, Australia turned over the ball in a ruck inside the attacking quarter and Seilala Mapusua popped a pass between his legs for the unmarked Tuilagi, who sprinted down the left touchline and stepped through Giteau's attempted covering tackle before swan diving over for the first try of the match.

Australia had dominated possession until then but lacked finish and were being bustled off the ball in the rucks and mauls.

The committed Samoan tackling was also unsettling the Australian ball runners, with center Mapusua directing the midfield defence and Tuilagi smashing Mark Gerrard with a perfectly-timed hit in the 33rd to shut down a scoring chance.

After turning down the chance for three penalty goals inside the quarter, Giteau missed a shot from 45 metres in the 25th minute; points that proved vital in the end.

The Wallabies scored ten points in the three minutes before half time when Samoa were down a man, cutting the margin to seven at the break. Digby Ioane chimed in from the blind wing from a five-yard scrum and touched down in the 38th minute. Giteau landed the conversion and a stoppage-time penalty goal.

Giteau added another goal two minutes after the break to make it 17-13 but the Samoans hit back quickly. Thompson scored in the 46th, when Samoa still had only 14 men on the field, and outside centre George Pisi was awarded a try in the 55th to make it 29-13.

Only Elsom, Giteau, hooker Stephen Moore and lock Nathan Sharp of the Australians had previously played Samoa; all were involved in the 74-7 win at Sydney in 2005 in the previous Test between the two countries.

Scorers: Australia - Tries: Ioane, Giteau. Cons: Giteau 2. Pens: Giteau 3. Samoa - Tries: A. Tuilagi, P. Williams, Thompson, G Pisi. Cons: T Pisi 3. Pens: T Pisi 2.

Australia: Gerrard, Davies, Ashley-Cooper, McCabe, Ioane, Giteau, Phipps, Kepu, Moore, Alexander, Timani, Sharpe, Elsom, Hodgson, McCalman. Replacements: Beale for Gerrard (55), Genia for Phipps (56), Vickerman for Sharpe (51), B Robinson for Hodgson (50), Higginbotham for McCalman (59). Not used: Hanson, Cowan.Samoa: P Williams, Tagicakibau, G Pisi, Mapusua, A Tuilagi, T Pisi, Fotuali'i, Taulafo, Schwalger, Perenise, Thompson, Leo, Tuifua, Fa'asavalu, Stowers. Replacements: Fuimaono-Sapolu for G Pisi (58), B Helleur for T Pisi (72), Johnston for Taulafo (65), Paulo for Schwalger (77), Levi for Thompson (69), Salavea for Tuifua (79). Not used: So'oialo. Sin Bin: Leo (36)