A sluggish England outlasted a bruising, brilliant Samoa performance to head to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals with a full house of Pool D wins.
Danny Care’s 73rd-minute dart from the base of a scrum was the decisive score in an 18-17 victory.
However, his team’s credentials as possible contenders for the title will have been badly dented as they were pushed all the way by a team whose only previous tournament win came against Chile.
The underdogs led 17-8 early in the second half and could have been further clear, having seen a third try ruled out for the faintest of knock-ons.
Samoa could yet have snatched a sucker-punch victory as they swept upfield only to spill forward five metres short in the penultimate play of the game.
England finished the game with a 100% record from their first four games, while their captain Owen Farrell surpassed Jonny Wilkinson as the leading Test points scorer for his country.
But there was more concern than confidence to take from the game with more Pacific Island opposition, in the shape of Fiji, looming in next weekend’s quarter-finals.
England fast need to find an antidote to a game of off-loads, invention and commitment that very nearly caused the biggest upset of France 2023 so far.
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