Samoa started brightly in this Division A encounter at Shaw’s Bridge, but it was England who got their IRB Under 19 World Championship 2007 campaign off to a winning start with a 20-12 victory on Thursday 5 April.
The penalty count was high for both sides, with Samoa missing their first attempt at goal from 55 metres out after England were caught diving into the ruck. England therefore were the first to open the scoring, full back Alex Goode after the Samoans were also penalised for diving in.
Samoa hit back with two penalties of their own through Titi Jnr Esau and would have stretched their slender advantage but for two crucial knock ons at the vital moment close to the England line.
They kept up the pressure on England though, culminating in a tussle on the touchline which saw wing David Smith sent to the sin bin and Esau duly kicked his third penalty of the match to give the Samoans a 9-3 advantage.
However being down to 14 men seemed to spur the English players on and within minutes fly half Adam Greendale hit an angle outside his opposite number and offloaded to captain Hugo Ellis, who went over for a try converted by Goode.
Goode added his second penalty to send England into the break leading 13-9, an advantage cut to just one point five minutes into the second half when Esau kicked a penalty, awarded after a high tackle, and both sides then seemed to suffer with nerves as handling errors dominated proceedings.