Samoa scored six tries as they overturned a half-time deficit to comfortably record a 34-9 bonus-point victory against Russia in their Rugby World Cup opener.
Two each from Alapati Leiua and Ed Fidow plus scores from Afaesetiti Amosa and Rey Lee-Lo ensured Samoa took maximum points.
Meanwhile for Russia, fly-half Yury Kushnarev kicked two penalties and a drop-goal.
BEST PLAYERS:
Russia: Vasily Artemyev – The captain is One TOUGH Cookie after getting up not once but twice from dangerous high tackles! Never afraid to carry the ball, he led his side to a historic victory.
Samoa: Ed Fidow – An exciting display from the new Worcester Warriors signing. Scored two tries, beat NINE defenders and made 96 metres from his eight carries. Russia simply couldn’t handle him.
📣 BREAKING NEWS 📣
— Worcester Warriors ⚔️ (@WorcsWarriors) February 27, 2019
Samoan winger Ed Fidow will be signing number five at Sixways next season!#TheNextChapter
👉 https://t.co/6N4DszRFrN pic.twitter.com/IBMDK6kg1V
UNDERPERFORMERS:
Russia: Vladimir Ostrushko – The centre was very poor. Three missed tackled in defence while in attack he completed just one carry, making a dismal 0 metres.
Samoa: Reynold Lee-Lo – Very lucky to escape a red card in the first half. Missed three tackles overall and was one of Samoa’s less threatening backs. He’ll certainly have better games at this Rugby World Cup.
SAMOA vs RUSSIA player ratings
Samoa: Tim Nanai-Williams- 7,5, Alapati Leiua -8 , Rey Lee-Lo – 5.5, Henry Taefu – 6, Ed Fidow – 8, Tusi Pisi – 7, Dwayne Polataivao – 6, Afaesetiti Amosa -6, Thomas Ioane – 7, Chris Vui (captain) – 8, Kane Le’aupepe – 8, Teofilo Paulo – 7, Michael Alaalatoa – 6, Motu Matu’u – 6, Logovii Mulipola – 6.
Russia: Vasily Artemyev – 7.5, German Davydov – 5.5, Vladimir Ostroushko – 5, Dmitry Gerasimov – 6, Kirill Golosnitskiy – 5.5, Yury Kushnarev – 7, Vasily Dorofeev – 6.5, Nikita Vavilin – 6, Tagir Gadzhiev – 6.5, Vitaly Zhivatov – 6, Bogdan Fedotko – 6, Andrey Ostrikov – 6, Kirill Gotovtsev – 6, Stanislav Selskii -6 , Valery Morozov -6
Date: Tuesday, September 24
Venue: Kumagaya Rugby Stadium, Saitama Prefecture, Kumagaya City
Kick-off: 19.15 (23.15 Samoan time; 13.15 Moscow time; 10.15 GMT)
Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)