KEY POINTS:
Boilovers or near-upsets breathe life into any global sporting event. Those moments of Rugby World Cup exhilaration have been rare but unforgettable.
France beating the Wallabies in the 1987 semifinal, France taking out the All Blacks at the same stage of the 1999 tournament, Ireland just missing a monumental shock victory against the Wallabies in 1991 - they were epic occasions.
But for shock value and the attraction of raw emotional energy, Samoa have produced some of the greatest World Cup revelations. Let's hope they can repeat it this time, under the tutelage of the great Michael Jones.
They missed the cut for the first World Cup and were discounted as a threat by most observers - except New Zealanders - when they made their World Cup debut in October 1991 against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park.
The Samoans were awarded a dubious try but deserved their 16-13 win with their blend of ferocious defence and attacking instincts. They had their rough edges but that was part of their attraction, they seemed to imbue the joy of rugby.
Later they ran the Wallabies close and beat the Pumas to make the quarter-finals. No one would easily forget the contributions of players like Peter Fatialofa, Brian Lima, Frank Bunce, To'o Vaega, Apollo Perelini, Sila Vaifale, Stan To'omalatai and the coaching group of Peter Schuster and Bryan Williams.
Four years later they did more damage to Italy and the Pumas before losing to the Springboks in a spiteful quarterfinal. The Samoans have not had such success since but they were huge value in 2003 when they made England sweat buckets before crawling to a 35-22 victory.
While Pool D at this year's World Cup is the Pool of Death with Ireland, France and Argentina shooting for two qualifying places, Samoa have been drawn in the other tough section.
The potential for carnage is great, with the Springboks, Tonga, England and the USA in the same group.
Samoa's trouble in previous tournaments has been having enough quality players to deal with sustained performances and to cover for the inevitable injuries. They will need to beat either the Springboks or England to qualify and that must-win match shapes as the test against England.
England will be battered after playing the Springboks the week before and if Samoa have a full and potent squad to choose from and can muster some sort of scrum, they could deal to the defending champions at Nantes.
We watched with some independent delight in Melbourne four years ago when Samoa gave them a mother and a father of a fright. Underdog, Pacific Island neighbour, players nourished in New Zealand, the old enemy under the hammer - it was all there. Nantes, September 23 - mark it down for a tasty repeat.
