Samoa produced a strong second-half performance to see off Russia 34-9 in Kumagaya in pool A at the Rugby World Cup.
Samoa trailed 6-5 at half time and the Pacific Islanders were fortunate not receive a couple of red cards in the opening 40 minutes.
Rey Lee-Lo and Motu Matu'u were both sin-binned for high tackles within two minutes of each other, on the same day World Rugby revealed the standard of refereeing at the tournament hasn't been good enough.
28 Yellow Card!
Is Rey Lee-Lo lucky that it is not red? The ball carrier dipping slightly is the big mitigating factor.
Here's how the TMO & referee saw it.#RWC2019 #RUSvSAM pic.twitter.com/58hJQNDXvM— eir Sport (@eirSport) September 24, 2019
Below is the incident that saw Motu Matu'u sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.
30: Yellow card!
Samoa are down to 13 men for ten minutes after their second yellow card in the space of two minutes.
Correct decision?
LIVE now on eir sport 1! #RWC2019 #RUSvSAM pic.twitter.com/vi4h79ZTmT— eir Sport (@eirSport) September 24, 2019
Russia has Kirill Gotovtsev sent to the sin-bin for a similar offence early in the second half.
Alapati Leiua and Ed Fidow both scored two tries, while Afaesetiti Amosa and Lee-Lo also touched down for Samoa.
Samoa move top of pool A, ahead of Ireland on points difference and they showed that they will give Scotland plenty of problems when the two sides meet on Monday.
