Samoa too powerful

Manu Samoa is a giant step closer to qualifying for the 2011 Rugby World Cup after crushing Papua New Guinea 115-7 at Apia Park yesterday. The Pukpuks had no answer to the Manu’s strength and speed and the PNG side looked relieved at the final whistle.

Super experienced Semo Sititi who played the full 80 minutes was first to cross the try line for Manu within 3 minutes of a restart after Pukpuks intercepted Manu’s passes to score 2 minutes into the first half. “At first it was a challenge but I’m pleased and as the game progressed it wasn’t too hard,” said Sititi.

It was certainly a wake up call to our boys and they did not look back scoring tries back to back and seeing the score board climb with the assistance of Gavin William’s left boot with a 100 per cent kicking rate.

Throughout the first half, Manu dominated not only in possession but also in territory making it hard for PNG to show any flair for running the ball. The Manu led 63 points to PNG’s 7 at the end of first half.

The second half started a bit slow perhaps because all the Manu reserves had taken the field by then allowing some of the boys a breather. It did not take long for them to get into gear again filtering tries and conversions from Titi Esau’s boot in his debut game for the Manu. Spectators went into a frenzy when replacement prop Ernest Skelton crossed the try line for the 99th point with Esau’s right boot conversion boosting the score to 101.

Captain George Stowers said at the end of the game how happy he was with the result. “We tried to get clips of how they play and it’s hard play when you don’t know how they play but I’m very happy and we owe it to the nation and families for the support,” said Stowers. ” Some of us are heading back to our club commitments so next week’s game will give the local boys in the team a chance.”

Elated though tired after their win, the boys in blue once again performed their famous Manu dance for the spectators to end the day. Though our Manu deservedly won as evident in their spectacular side stepping and running circles around the Pukpuks with almost no errors, it was almost too monotonous to see our boys with possession 95 percent of the whole game.
 

Source: Samoa Observer.