KEY POINTS:
Samoa insist they remain firmly in the hunt for the World Cup quarter-finals despite copping a 50-point thumping from South Africa.
And strange as it might sound after being on the wrong end of a 59-7 scoreline, you can see their point.
They'll watch the Springboks take on England in Paris on Friday night before tackling Tonga in Montpellier on Sunday.
Then they have six days off before playing England in Nantes on September 22.
The Samoans rugged approach would rattle lesser teams but not the South Africans, whose pack is loaded with big, hard men not averse to bending the rules at close quarters.
Indeed Springbok captain John Smit referred to the clashes over the ball at the breakdowns as "almost cage fighting", and he left the impression he didn't mean it in a negative sense.
But for all their swinging arms and dodgy misdeeds in the dark recesses of ruck and maul, the likes of Schalk Burger, Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield are also capable of deft, skilled touches.
England possess big bruisers too, but lack the necessary skill to punish Samoan errors as emphatically as the South Africans.
Samoa were right in the contest against South Africa until early in the second half when their heads dropped after a try was disallowed which, with the conversion, would have had them seven points adrift.
Instead, South Africa, put their foot down, created space, took their chances and presented their title credentials emphatically. However, time will put a slightly misleading face on events at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.
England were wretched in beating the United States 24 hours earlier. Basic passing movements seem beyond them. Samoa's coach, former All Black great Michael Jones is right to be bullish about his team's prospects.
"We've got time to work on things and we'll pay whatever price it takes," Jones said. "I truly believe in our potential.
"There's no reason why we can't qualify, but we're not thinking about England. We have to get past our Polynesian brothers first."
The stakes are high when the Springboks and England clash.
A South African win will mean it's all to play for when the Samoans face England. In 2003, Samoa gave the eventual world champions a real fright in pool play before going down 35-22.
Jones was half right, half generous when asked his assessment of South Africa and England ahead of that match at Stade de France.
"I've no doubt South Africa have got some cards up their sleeve [here he's probably correct].
"I'm pretty sure England would have been very coy in their approach against the US [here Jones is being polite].
"England didn't light the world on fire, but it'll still be very close."
Whether the veteran Brian Lima is ready to tackle England remains to be seen.
Lima came on as a second half replacement against South Africa but within a couple of minutes he'd got one of his trademark flying tackles wrong and, clearly dazed, was helped off.
That prompted a nice touch from Smit.
After the handshakes, Smit went to Lima on the Samoan bench. He persuaded the 40-year-old, who should have been celebrating appearing in his record fifth World Cup, to get up and get a round of hugs and handshakes from the circle of South Africans.
