England flatter to deceive as Samoans suffer in the bin

England's Mark Cueto fends Samoa's Tanner Vili. Picture / Reuters

England 40 Samoa 3

After coming close to beating the All Blacks last week, England produced an error-ridden performance to beat Manu Samoa this morning at Twickenham.

On a bitterly-cold London evening, the Samoans came out fired up, producing several bone-crunching tackles to foot it with the world champions.

It was reminiscent of the 2003 Rugby World Cup, when Samoa gave England a major scare before the northerners won 35-22.

A Samoan fumble from a free-kick set up England's first try, also the first for Tom Voyce in his fourth test. The Wasps winger was on the end of some slick ball movement and had too much pace, setting up a 13-3 lead after 26 minutes.

As expected, England played no-nonsense rugby, gaining ascendancy by dominating up front.

But as Charlie Hodgson repeatedly found the corner for the England forwards to try and rumble over, their Samoan counterparts contained the threat with resolute defence.

Voyce almost went from hero to zero just before the break when he knocked on under Samoan pressure in front of the English tryline. But referee Mark Lawrence blew for halftime, denying the Samoans a great opportunity.

Handling errors continued to negate England's progress before Voyce again broke the shackles. Skipper Martin Corry went from the base of the scrum and found Hodgson, who put Voyce in for his second for a 23-3 lead.

England's dominance at set pieces began to tell, as Samoan prop Justin Va'a was yellow carded for collapsing the scrum.

England capitalised through Hodgson. The Sale pivot, who was one of England's best, ghosted through a gap to score between the posts.

A repeat of last week's All Blacks yellow card debacle was threatened when Tanner Vili was also sinbinned for a high tackle on Mark Cueto, reducing Samoa to 13.

England punished the depleted Samoans, as Harry Ellis scored a brilliant solo try. A late try for debutant Tom Varndell gave the English a flattering 40-3 score line.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY