Japan beat Samoa to keep last eight hopes alive as England qualify for quarters

Tries by Pieter Labuschagne, Michael Leitch, Kazuki Himeno and 13 points from the boot of Rikiya Matsuda gave Japan a comprehensive victory as they leapfrogged their opponents into second place in Pool D with nine points.

Samoa, who had Ben Lam red-carded early in the second half and answered with tries by Seilala Lam, Duncan Paia'aua and Christian Leali'ifano as well as points from the tee by Alai D'Angelo Leuila and Leali'ifano, are third on six points.

With 14 points, England cannot finish outside the top two. Fourth-placed Argentina are expected to add to their four points when they meet Chile on Saturday before a potential pool decider against Japan in the last round of group games.

POOR DICSCIPLINE

Only an extraordinary set of results, including a bonus-point win over already qualified England in their final pool game on October 7th, will see Samoa advance, but the reality is they will likely be playing for pride in Lille.

They can have few complaints too. Samoa conceded 12 penalties against Japan, and received a yellow card for scrumhalf Jonathan Taumateine and a red after 47 minutes for wing Lam following a dangerous tackle.

"I am proud of the guys. The effort and everything they put into that game I could not ask for more," head coach Seilala Mapusua said.

"It is tough to be down with the red card and it is unfortunate for Ben Lam, Japan exploited the advantage and they won."

Mapusua admitted his side’s discipline was the major factor in the loss.

"It is very concerning. We have got to be technically correct (in the tackle) otherwise we will be punished. We have seen that in the last three games, but not just our games, throughout the competition.

"We’ll take the next few days to recover well, we have a few injuries. Then we will worry about England."

Captain Fritz Lee said his side failed to look after the ball and turned over too much possession.

"The effort was there, the basics of the game I thought let us down," Lee said.

"Japan were more clinical than us and we had to respect the ball more than we did. Our penalty count did not help us at the end."