SCOTLAND coach Vern Cotter praised the character and resilience of his team as they withstood a Samoan onslaught at St James’ Park to get the win they needed to progress to the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup.
Captain Greig Laidlaw scored 26 points as his team won their final Pool B match 36-33 to go through to a last-eight meeting with Australia at Twickenham a week today. Samoa played by far their best match of the tournament and won the try count 4-3, but although they picked up two bonus points they have finished fourth in the pool and will have to qualify for the next World Cup.
“I’m really proud of the boys and the way they played,” Cotter said after the match in Newcastle. “It was a tough game. They were down at half-time [26-23], and they showed the character and the necessary resources to come back.
“I’m really, really happy for the group. They’ve worked hard to get there. That’s phase one, and we’re moving to the next phase, which is the knockout. There were some really good things out there.”
Samoa produced a ferocious start that saw them slice through the Scots defence time after time, and Cotter praised their play while emphasising his pleasure at the way his players had responded to that onslaught. “We came across a Samoan team we hadn’t seen at this World Cup. They had no pressure on them and they played some very good rugby.
“We still got the win. We stuck to the things we were good at and it saw us though. We hung in well and managed to get the result we needed.”
Stephen Betham, Samoa’s coach, had predicted his team had a big performance left in them after losing their two previous games, and so it proved. “Credit to the boys - they played right up to the 80th minute,” he said. “We gave it everything. It’s very frustrating. We played our finest game, but we still fell short.”
Samoan captain Kahn Fotuali’i echoed his coach’s sentiments. “We knew we had to put in a good performance and put a bit of pride back into the way we play,” he said. “[The aim was to] just go out there and have some fun - get back some enjoyment in the way we play as islanders.”
The Wallabies beat Wales 15-6 yesterday to top Pool A and set up that match with Scotland. The Welsh meet Pool B winners South Africa on Saturday, also at Twickenham.
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