England 48-14 Samoa: England too strong for Samoa
Last Updated: 26/11/17 8:04am
England ended their autumn Old Mutual Wealth Series with a convincing 48-14 win over Samoa at Twickenham on Saturday.
It was not the perfect display from England, who lacked accuracy at times and could not turn territory or possession into more points, but they certainly entertained with some attacking rugby as they recorded a record win over Samoa.
Mike Brown, Alex Lozowski and Charlie Ewels went over in the first half while Elliot Daly (twice), Henry Slade and Semesa Rokoduguni adding to the tally in the second.
Samoa were superb in defence, especially at the ruck and breakdown but their attack and kicking out of hand was not quite firing. However, they never gave up and Piula Faasalele and Chris Vui went over, with Tim Nanai-Williams converting both tries.
England started very well and were willing to put the ball through the hands and look for the offload. Mike Brown opened up the scoring after just two minutes following good work from Alex Lozowski, Henry Slade and Maro Itoje. There was a suggestion of a knock-on from Danny Care in the build-up but the TMO suggested that it came off his waist and not his hands.
Seven minutes later England scored their second as Lozowski scored his first international try after Tim Nanai-Williams dropped a high ball which was scooped up by Daly. The winger passed on to Jamie George who offloaded to Lozowski who was over.
Samoa hit back as flanker Piula Faasalele barged over from short range after they showed some patience building through the phases.
England looked to up the ante and Samoa had to withstand England's relentless attack with lock Charlie Ewels finally going over for their third try.
England continued to push but were turned over several times in promising positions and went into the break 22-7 up.
They started the second half like they ended the first - plenty of possession and territory but could not make it count - as Samoa kept on turning them over in promising positions.
Elliot Daly finally went over for England in the 60th minute as he stepped off his wing to take a well-weighted Ford pass and power through some tiring Samoa defence. Ford converted for a 29-7 lead.
Samoa went down to 14 men after try-scorer Faasalele was sin-binned for going off his feet at the ruck and England pounced immediately as Slade went over for his try.
Samoa were not done yet though and skipper Chris Vui went over after a lineout move that was converted by Nanai-Williams.
However, England had the last word as Elliot Daly scorched over after beating five men to score by the posts, before Semesa Rokoduguni went over in the corner for England's record score against Samoa.
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