Scotland 36
Samoa 33
Scotland managed to edge out Samoa by three points in a thrilling Pool B encounter at St James' Park this afternoon, with captain Greg Laidlaw scoring 26 of his side's total.
The result secures Scotland's place in the quarter-final and ended any hopes Japan had of reaching the knock-out stages.
It looked like that there would be another Pool B World Cup upset as Samoa led for the majority of the game, running in four trys but it wasn't enough as Laidlaw's late try managed to put the Scots out of sight toward the end.
It was one of the games of the tournament to date, with seven trys, one yellow card and plenty of controversy sprinkled throughout the 80 minutes.
Both sides produced an outstanding first half display, with plenty of width being put on the ball and a lack of a defensive effort from both sides, five first half trys were run in.
Samoa started the game brightly and were rewarded after Tusi Pisi and Greg Laidlaw exchanged penalties, when Pisi dotted down in the corner after his earlier break gave the Samoan's the field position. The fly-half converted his own try and Samoa led by 7 after 10 minutes.
However, Scotland only found themselves behind momentarily as they were gifted a try after the restart. Having safely claimed the restart, Tusi Pisi spread the ball wide but a a stray pass bounced over the head of Paul Perez and Tommy Seymour pounced to dive over and Laidlaw levelled the scores up.
The try scoring frenzy continued as Samoa reclaimed the restart for the third time in succession and surged for the Scottish 22'. Scrum half Kahn Fotuali’i took a quick penalty, stepped his man before offloading to his hooker Manu Leiataua who crashed over the line. Pisi missed the conversion but the Pacific Islander's were ahead by five.
Laidlaw reduced the deficit with another penalty but Rey Lee-Lo crossed again for Manu Samoa after his initial break put Scotland on the backfoot. After posession was recycled, George Pisi set Lee-Lo free with a lovely offload and Samoa led by 7.
Laidlaw kicked another penalty to reduce the deficit but Scotland were down to 14 after Ryan Wilson was shown the bin after stamping on the shoulder of a Samoan player. The Glasgow lock could consider himself lucky that it was only a yellow card. Pisis managed to convert that Scottish indiscipline into points.
Despite being a man down, The Bravehearts managed to get over for their second try of the half. John Hardie was at the back of a rolling maul that was set off an attacking line-out, and the naturalised Kiwi got his second test try for Scotland.
Laidlaw conveerted but another Pisi penalty gave Samoa the lead just going into the break, but it could have been much more for the Pacific Islanders as they had a try ruled out for obstruction before the Pisi penalty.
The second half turned into a slightly scrappier affair as Scotland looked to tighten things up, but it was still an enthralling watch. Numerous times Laidlaw turned the opportunity for three points to go to the corner, but the Samoan defence held firm multiple times.
Eventually, two quickfire Laidlaw penalties had Scotland in front after 52 minutes, the first time they had gone ahead.
It was a lead they didn't relinquish as both sides failed to score again until the 73rd minute. That was to be the decisive score as Laidlaw picked from the back of an attacking scrum and squeezed over the line to seal the win. His conversion left 10 between them and left Scotish fans singing in the North-East of England.
There was one last scare left as substitute hooker Motu Matu'u crashed over with 78 minutes gone, Pisi converted but it was too little too late from the South Sea Islander's as their monstrous fell just shot.
The reult see's Scotland finish as runners up in Pool B behind South Africa and they will face the winner of Wales Vs Australia in Pool A.
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