SCOTS LOSE OUT TO POWERFUL SAMOA
Posted: 24/May/08
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Scotland failed to seal off early group progression when they lost their second IRB 7s tournament tie to a quick footed and powerful Samoa.

The Scots lacked the defensive efforts shown in the first match in a tie that asked many questions both up front and out wide by a Pacific Island side who currently sit fourth in the IRB Sevens standings.

The Samoans underlined their 7s credentials with the first try early in the game. Several Scotland players were sucked into an aggresive battle upfront which opened spaces in midfield allowing Uale Mai to ghost clean through the middle to side-step full-back, Adamson, and score between the posts. Lolo Lui converted the score, 0-7.

The Scots were soon on level terms through Scott Forrest after he chased his own grubber through and pounced on the Samoan full back. Failure to release gave Scotland a penalty which talisman Colin Gregor took quickly to dart inside the flat footed defenders and cross the line under the posts. Gregor added the extras to draw the gripping tie level.

Samoa came back at Scotland with good penetrative running - made all the more effective by deep support lines coming in at pace. Alafoti Fa'osiliva came from deep in midfield and a last gasp tap tackle brought him to ground but his outstretched arm reached the try line. Lolo Lui added the extras. 7-14

As the end of the first half drew near Scotland began to take risks, spinning the ball wide with huge passes from one side to the other.

Three huge and deadly accurate passes at pace covered the full width of the pitch from left to right into the hands of Mike Adamson who had the wheels to finish the magnificent move at the end of the half though Colin Gregor's miss kick failed to see sides go in on equal terms.

Half time: 14-12

A bit of fortune extended Samoas lead at the beginning of the second half as a Alafoti Fa'osilivas attempted offload rebounded off the body of Colin Gregor straight back into his hands for an extremely fortunate try. Lolo Lui converted, 21-12.

Two late unconverted tries from Timoteo Iosua resulting from sloppy tackling saw the game end 31-12.

Full time: 31-12

Scotland coach, Stevie Gemmell, said: "Im more disappointed by the performance than the result, especially in the second half when far too many one-on-one tackles were missed and when you do that against a team like Samoa youre going to be punished and thats what happened.

The fact that we scored a couple of tries shows that we can cause teams problems and create spaces when weve got the ball but we need to keep hold of the opposition and not allow them to break free from the tackle."

Scotland 1st VII
1 Scott Forrest CAPTAIN
2 Colin Shaw
6 Chris Fusaro
7 Ben Addison
8 Colin Gregor
9 Mike Adamson
11 Andrew Turnbull

Replacements
3 Stevie Lawrie
4 Grant Anderson
5 Jim Thompson
10 Greig Laidlaw
12 Richie Vernon

Samoa 7s Squad
1 Simaika Mikaele
2 Alafoti Fa'osiliva
3 Ofisa Treviranus
6 Uale Mai
7 Lolo Lui
9 Timoteo Iosua
10 Reupena Levasa

Replacements
4 Laupepa Taualagi
5 Kolise Teni
8 Alatasi Tupou
11 Tom Iosefo
12 Mathew Iakopo

This article was originally posted on 24-May-2008, 17:58 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 24-May-2008, 18:02.