Manu Samoa 7’s are through to the cup quarterfinals of the Dubai 7’s after defeating Japan 38-17 and Canada 33-5
Dubai is Samoa’s first tournament without captain Melani Matavao who is unavailable for this tournament due to injury.
Samoa put Japan away quite comfortably in their first pool match. Tama Uli and Manu 7’s veteran Uaina Sione scored a first half double to get Samoa off to a good start.
Apia Maroons flyer Tuna Tuitama added a runaway try of his own to give Samoa their third try of the half. Japan wouldn’t let Samoa walk all over them as they scored two tries of their own in the first half.
It took a near perfect performance by Brian Lima’s side to pull away from the Japanese.
Samoa vs Canada.
Va’a Apelu Maliko, who was quiet against Japan, reminded everyone why he’s regarded as one of the best players in the world when he scored a double against Canada.
Samoa only led Canada 14-5 at halftime despite dominating statistics in the first half
. The men in blue turned up the heat in the second half outscoring the Canadians 19-0.
Paul Scanlan got in on the fun and scored two tries of his own. A try to co-captain Vaovasa Afa Su’a put the match away and in Samoa’s favour.
Samoa’s next match is against USA at 3am on Saturday morning (Samoan Time).
This match will decide who tops the pool. Samoa is in Pool D and will quarterfinal against a team from Pool A.
South Africa, Great Britain, Kenya and Australia are all in Pool A and at this point it is unclear who the two top teams from this Pool will be.
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