Preview: England v Samoa

6 Oct 2023 | 8 min |

Everything you need to know ahead of England Men's Rugby World Cup pool fixture against Samoa in Lille.

Steve Borthwick's charges are chasing a fourth successive victory from four World Cup games as they return to Lille's Stade Pierre-Mauroy having beaten Chile 71-0 there on 23 September.

Tries from Henry Arundell (5), Theo Dan (2), Bevan Rodd, Marcus Smith (2) and Jack Willis, as well as 16 points from the boot of Owen Farrell secured the victory, as England held Los Cóndores scoreless.

When?	Saturday 7 October
Where?	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille
Kick off?	16:45 BST

England have their place in a quarter final guaranteed after Japan secured a 28-22 victory over Samoa at the weekend. A win this weekend will secure their position at the top of Pool D and set up a meeting with the runners-up of Pool C in the first knockout stage.

Owen Farrell captains the England side from inside centre as he closes in on a place in the record books. He goes into the game on 1,178 points, needing just two more to overtake Jonny Wilkinson as England's top points scorer of all time.

Samoa opened their Rugby World Cup account with a 43-10 victory over Chile in Bordeaux, before travelling to Saint-Etienne where they fell to a 19-10 defeat at the hands of Michael Cheika's Argentina. They then faced Japan in Toulouse where, despite Seilala Lam, Duncan Paia'aua and Christian Leali'ifano each scoring tries, they were unable to overcome a determined Japan side.

WHERE TO WATCH

ITV will be broadcasting every Rugby World Cup fixture live.
Enjoy the ultimate experience at the official England Rugby fanzone at Vinegar Yard, with tickets from just £6.50
For the travelling rugby fan, check out our supporter's guide to Lille.

VIEWS FROM CAMP

Steve Borthwick: “Whilst we are of course pleased with our results and qualification into the pool stages, we want to continue our improvement with a positive performance against a difficult and in-form Samoa team.

“Samoa are renowned for their physicality and this last game in the pool stages will be an excellent test for us as we continue in our Rugby World Cup journey.

“We are delighted to be heading back to Lille for this weekend’s fixture, where we enjoyed seeing so many England supporters for our last match. Once again, we look forward to seeing a sea of white England shirts in the stands of the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Saturday.”

Jamie George: "There's been a great atmosphere in camp off the back of our mini break that we've had. The boys are really excited to get going again and we've all got a really good understanding of where we want to go.

"Samoa have got some genuinely world class players and I'm lucky enough to play with one of them - Theo McFarland - at club level. It's going to be tough, this side are a lot better drilled than maybe they have been previously, especially around the set piece. But we also know that every good England team is built around a strong set piece so we're excited for that challenge while being aware of how physical the contest will be.

"We know we're going to have to beat some very good teams in order to win this thing and we know we need to keep getting better throughout the tournament. We started really well against Argentina and I feel we've built on different things regarding our game and we're in a good place, but we just want to keep getting better."

TEAMS

England

15. Freddie Steward, 14. Joe Marchant, 13. Manu Tuilagi, 12. Owen Farrell (C), 11. Jonny May, 10. George Ford, 9. Alex Mitchell, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Dan Cole, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Ollie Chessum, 6. Courtney Lawes, 7. Tom Curry, 8. Ben Earl

Replacements

16. Theo Dan, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. George Martin, 20. Billy Vunipola, 21. Danny Care, 22. Marcus Smith, 23. Ollie Lawrence

Samoa

15. Duncan Paia'aua, 14. Nigel Ah-Wong, 13. Tumua Manu, 12. Danny Toala, 11. Neria Fomai, 10. Lima Sopoaga, 9. Jonathan Taumateine, 1. Jordan Lay, 2. Sama Malolo, 3. Michael Alaalatoa (C), 4. Samuel Slade, 5. Brian Alainu'u'ese, 6. Theo McFarland, 7. Fritz Lee, 8. Steven Luatua

Replacements

16. Seilala Lam, 17. James Lay, 18. Paul Alo-Emile, 19. So'otala Fa'aso'o, 20. Alamanda Motuga, 21. Melani Matavao, 22. Christian Lealiifano, 23. Miracle Fai'ilagi

LAST TIME OUT

England 48-14 Samoa | 25 November 2017

The last time these two teams met in an international Test match was at Twickenham Stadium during the 2017 Autumn Internationals.

Mike Brown and Alex Lozowski scored in the early stages of the encounter, before Piula Paasalele returned with a try of his own. Charlie Ewels, Elliot Daly (2), Henry Slade and Semesa Rokoduguni got in on the scoring action, while George Ford kicked five conversions and a penalty to secure the victory on home turf.

England: 15. Mike Brown, 14. Jonny May, 13. Henry Slade, 12. Alex Lozowski, 11. Elliot Daly, 10. George Ford (CC), 9. Danny Care, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Jamie George, 3. Dan Cole, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. Charlie Ewels, 6. Maro Itoje, 7. Chris Robshaw (CC), 8. Sam Simmonds

Replacements: 16. Dylan Hartley, 17. Joe Marler, 18. Harry Williams, 19. Nick Isiekwe, 20. Courtney Lawes, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. Piers Francis, 23. Semesa Rokoduguni.

STATS

This will be the ninth meeting between England and Samoa in men’s Test rugby, with England winning each of their previous eight clashes, only against Italy (30) have England played more Test matches without losing than they have against Samoa.

England have won their final pool stage game in each of their previous nine Rugby World Cup appearances, by an average margin of 41 points.

Samoa have scored more maul tries (3) and gained more metres per maul (5.3) than any other side in this year’s Rugby World Cup.

Samoa’s Fritz Lee has won six turnovers in this year’s Rugby World Cup, the joint-most of any player (also Manuel Ardao).