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NANTES - England coach Brian Ashton said the reigning champions now faced "a fight to the death" for a place in the quarter-finals after they revived their hopes of reaching the last eight with a 44-22 victory against Samoa at the Stade de la Beaujoire here Sunday.
Victory, which followed England's 36-0 thrashing by South Africa - their record World Cup defeat - left them level on points with Tonga, who they face in what is now a winner-takes-all clash in Paris on Saturday for the right to qualify out of Pool A alongside the Springboks.
"It's a fight to the death on Friday night (Saturday morning NZ time)," Ashton said after Tonga had pushed South Africa all the way earlier on Saturday before losing 30-25.
"We've had two indifferent performances to say the least (England opened their 2007 campaign with an unconvincing 28-10 win against the United States). Today was a step in the right direction."
England were on the scoreboard as early as the second minute when caretaker captain Martin Corry scored the first of his two tries and wing Paul Sackey also grabbed a brace.
Meanwhile Jonny Wilkinson, in his first World Cup match since he landed the winning drop-goal in the 2003 final, kicked 24 points to go second in the list of the World Cup's leading points scorers.
But Samoa, who reduced England's lead to four points early in the second half when scrum-half Junior Polu scored a try kept pace until the last 10 minutes thanks mainly to 15 points from the boot of full-back Loki Crichton.
"Realising we're operating in a win at all costs atmopshere, there's a touch of relief involved," said Wilkinson.
He added he was unconcerned by statistics, saying he instead derived satisfaction from scoring important points.
"Certain kicks mean so much to you during the game. There was one to take us from four points in front to seven and another to take us to 10 (in front), that was the key one.
"When you lose it's hellish tough," he added. "Against a side like Samoa, where you know jolly well that you can get caught cold and spend the game running and chasing and getting big collisions, we managed to win in an atmosphere where I guess some people might have expected us to go down."
Samoa coach Michael Jones didn't hold back in praising Wilkinson after a defeat which ended his side's own hopes of reaching the second phase and his term as coach, as he revealed he was stepping down.
"I'm sure his presence lifts the whole England team when he's there and he's a machine when it comes to his kicking game. Any infringement, he really punished us."
However, he added: "We're bitterly disappointed that's our tournament. We couldn't finish them (England) off by being ruthless enough."
The legendary All-Black flanker, one of the most revered figures in world rugby, is now going to concentrate on his job with an Auckland shipping firm.
And veteran Samoa centre Brian Lima, the first player to appear in five World Cups, also announced it was the end of his international career.
"This is my last tour of duty, it's time for new blood and a new voice," said Jones, a World Cup-winner with New Zealand at the inaugural 1987 edition.
Samoa were surprisingly beaten 19-15 by Tonga last weekend and Jones said another shock couldn't be ruled out.
"They've got the talent pool to cause an upset. But I still think England have too much firepower."
- AFP
