Samoa are now sitting behind South Africa in the pool table but ahead of Wales because of points difference but they are yet to face the Springboks as the race intensifies to make the knock out stages.
Mahonri Schwalger, who had a barnstorming display at hooker against Wales, still believes his side can be a major player in the tournament. He was also left ruing what might have been after seeing Samoa denied a try when referee Alain Rolland ruled out Maurie Faasavalu’s effort for double-grounding.
“That was pretty harsh and it might have been the turning point of the game,” Schwalger said. “There’s some things you can’t win and that’s the way it goes. All we can do now is just move on.”
The defeat is a huge blow to Samoa’s chances of making it out of the pool of death as they now have to beat both the Springboks and arch rivals Fiji to make certain of progress.
“There were a few things where the referee was pretty harsh on us but that’s the way it goes you win some, you lose some,” Schwalger said. “We’ve still got a chance – if we win our next two games we’ll be fine
“We’re still there – I’ve got belief in my team. My team will make the quarter-finals, if we concentrate on the next two games.”
Assistant coach Brian McLean added: “It’s going to be really tough but they probably should have lost to Wales, and we gave Wales a bit of a fright. We think we can be competitive but it is a tough pool.”
“We need to be a little bit more accurate. We did some really good things but our own inaccuracies probably let us down more than anything else. We’re creating the opportunities but our own inaccuracies are letting us down.”
