KEY POINTS:
England 44
Samoa 22
Samoa's recurrent setpiece problems removed them from another tilt at the World Cup playoffs.
In successive matches against Pacific neighbours Tonga and the defending champions England yesterday, Samoa were unable to apply persistent pressure because of their unstable scrum and shaky lineout.
They took
Tonga a shade lightly but they were also regularly shifted in the scrum with awkward ball then delivered to their backs who became easier targets for the marauding Tongan loose forwards led by captain Nili Latu and Finau Maka.
Similar issues developed again at Nantes yesterday as England's setpiece monopoly allowed them to escape their own frailties and the danger of the Samoan attacks.
Whenever Samoa made it into the England 22 and fed a scrum or lineout, they found it awkward to control possession and lost any rhythm for their backline attacks.
They needed the game to be fractured and loose and while England obliged with some woeful field kicking, they were also able to squeeze the game away from Samoa at setpiece.
After three defeats and some physical damage, Samoa have only a four-day rest before their final pool game against the United States who, in one of the many oddities of the draw, will not have played for a fortnight.
It was better from England but anything would be after their donut failure against the Springboks.
The world champions still have to beat Tonga next weekend in Paris to move into the quarter-finals and on the evidence of Tonga's stirring challenge yesterday against the Springboks, that will be no lay down misere.
England are still stodgy. Jonny Wilkinson was back and kicked some important goals but there was a lack of midfield fluency and organisation which some of the better calibre teams will punish.
The forwards were also one-paced and not sharp in the contact area where Samoa managed a few turnovers and Tonga have been very impressive so far.
But England remain in the tournament and while they are nowhere near as drilled and complete as they were in 2003, they will be emotionally repaired after their four-try win.
Four years ago they had a flat patch against Samoa and other untidy matches before regrouping to surge through to the title and that sort of thinking will have to dominate their plans if they are to repeat in 2007.
It is unlikely but a more complete game, some dreadful weather and a kicking cameo from Wilkinson could combine to favour their progress.
The second-string Bok side almost paid the price for playing too loosely against a Tongan side who have a scrum, some big hitters on defence and players who counter-attack with superb Pacific Island flair.
In a weekend where some order returned to the rugby universe after hosts France escaped a tournament exit with a solid victory over Ireland, the value of attacking kicks was accentuated.
A la Carlos Spencer, sparky French five-eighths Frederic Michalak sealed his side's triumph with a visionary banana kick into vacant land for his wing Vincent Clerc to hunt down and score.
Then yesterday Pierre Hola for Tonga floated several pinpoint crossfield punts to create tries while Wilkinson pushed a deft grubber behind Samoa's rush defence to create another. There was also the extraordinary riposte from Samoan hooker Mahonri Schwalger who used an old-fashioned centrekick to keep one foray going for a try.
In the All Blacks' opening game against Italy, Daniel Carter showed how dangerous his array of attacking punts and chipkicks could be while he has also shown since the Lions visit the threat from his width of the field kicks.
With the modern game built so much on defence, attacking kicking skills have become the new World Cup weapon.
