Samoa have been one of the more adventurous and skilled teams at previous World Cups. But even they have shifted more towards a power game, selecting players who can bash holes rather than run through them.
In 2003, Samoa had England in their pool as they did this
year. At the last World Cup they took England all the way to the tape, leading the game for 60m before Martin Johnson's men clawed their way in front to win 35-22.
Samoa's key weapon in 2003 was their mobility, athleticism, pace and skill. They ran a heavy England pack to the touchlines and back and never gave them a chance to strangle the game.
The combined weight of the Samoan pack that started on October 26, 2003 was 881kg. That worked out at an average of 110kg per player.
Wind the clock on to this year and the combined weight of the Samoan pack that started against England in Nantes was 944kg.
In the space of four years the average weight of each man had jumped 8kg to 118kg.
Samoa's bigger pack tried to take England on at the collision point and it never really worked for them. England ran out comfortable winners in the end and, too late, Samoa returned to a more fluid, attack-the-space game for their final pool encounter against USA.
