/ 17 July 2011

Brilliant Samoa stun Australia in Sydney

Samoa ran in four tries to stun Australia 32-23 in a famous victory that gave the Wallabies the worst possible start to their World Cup season on Sunday.

The ragged Australians were simply outplayed by the Pacific Islanders, who complemented their usual hard-hitting defence with an uncompromising effort at the breakdown to record their first victory over the home side in five meetings.

Alesana Tuilagi, Paul Williams, Kane Thompson, George Pisi etched their names into Samoa’s history books by scoring the tries with flyhalf Tusi Pisi adding 12 points with his boot.

The Australians, who open their Tri-Nations campaign against the Springboks next weekend, scored a try in each half through winger Digby Ioane and flyhalf Matt Giteau but were always struggling after the visitors had raced to a 17-0 lead.