Oceania Under 19s

Samoa roll on with cricket scores in the Oceania Under 19s, victorious 52 nil over American Samoa today.

In an all-Samoan affair, American Samoa was toppled by their brothers and neighbours Samoa. These 2 countries may be close geographically, but not so on the footy field with the Samoan’s winning 52 zip.

In total it was 8 tries scored and it was quite a convincing win for Samoa, however they did have to earn a lot of the tries with American Samoa putting on some tremendous D, without this guts it could quite easily have been another 100 today.

Looking at the team that came second, American Samoa are quite new, they do though have size and speed to show promise for the future. They are not shy on the tackle, and in this match they were giving all they had in the tank after 20 odd phases in a row. This character will mean they will grow and grow as a rugby nation.

Now Samoa was is cruise control today, they ooze skill and were only too willing to put it on display today. Their pivot and number 10 Patrick Faapale has a nose for a gap. He holds the ball out in front of him and dazzles all trying to tackle him in a talent trance, gifted people seem to have extra time and he is one of these players. Outside him are some solid men that love to run, either into space or straight into a man. Their backs wanted the ball and stayed deep to relish the opportunities on offer.

Speaking of large, Samoa’s hulking number 6 Pita Semeane looks like a clone of Jerry Collins. He protects the ball under his arm and only knows one way, straight. He and the pack today punched holes everywhere and set up the freedom for the backs to prosper.

The home crowd would have been a tad confused today, with 2 Samoan teams it was a local derby and the underdogs were cheered from the stands.

Samoa is looking good, but in a way they have not been tested. Crunch-time is coming soon and they will be hoping the practice runs they have been getting will have been enough to see them through the big game.