Although neither Samoa or Tonga have a large contingent of supporters travelling with them, fans still had Montpellier's Stade de la Mosson rocking during the clash of the South Pacific neighbours. Many of them were French, but there were plenty of other nationalities represented, including Scottish, Irish and even some New Zealand fans.

Both teams received a rousing reception from the large crowd, although the game was not a sellout. After the anthems, the crowd fell silent as Tonga did their pre-match challenge, the Sipitau, followed by Samoa’s Siva Tau, to the obvious delight of the crowd.

Once the game got under way fans supported both teams equally, although the crowd was firmly in the Tongan camp by the end of the half.

'Tonga find themselves in a position to become the tournament’s giant killers, as a win over England on September 28 could send them into the last eight'


Referee Jonathan Kaplan did not have one of his better games, missing a deliberate knock-on by Samoa, yellow-carding Tonga’s Epeli Taione after just 28 minutes for persistent infringements, and then not holding Samoa to the same standard.

Perhaps his worst blunder came when he was caught napping from a quick line-out and found himself hopelessly out of position as Samoan winger Sailosi Tagicakibau crashed over in the corner. Unable to see the grounding, Kaplan referred the decision to TMO Lyndon Bray, who was also unable to see the ball grounded. So an attacking scrum was awarded, despite the fact that both teams and every fan in the stadium knew a try had been scored.

The only scoring of the first half came from the boots of the kickers - Gavin Williams landing four goals for Samoa and Pierre Hola kicking two for Tonga.

The second half got under way with the crowd getting rather restless as the game lost some of its structure; both teams kicked aimlessly and squandered attacking chances with handling errors. The crowd responded by entertaining themselves with several Mexican waves - but got back into it all  when Taione crashed over for the game’s only try, atoning for his earlier yellow card.

Further penalties from both kickers had the Tonga leading 19-15 with under 10 minutes to play when the officials provided more drama. Referee Kaplan, on the advice of touch judge Bryce Lawrence, gave Tongan flanker Hale T-Pole the tournament’s first red card for a vicious elbow on Leo Lafaiali’i. Television cameras did not capture the incident, leaving many confused - but it happened right in front of Lawrence, who put his flag out immediately.

Desperate to hold onto their slim lead, the Tongans managed to dig themselves even deeper into trouble when replacement prop Toma Toke was deservedly yellow-carded for a high tackle. However, the crowd of almost 25,000 once more found their voices and cheered Tonga to a famous victory.

Samoa, who had not lost to Tonga since 2000, now do not control the own path to the quarter-finals, needing to win their final two games and hope results go their way. Tonga, on the other hand, find themselves in a position to become the tournament’s giant killers, as a win over England on September 28 could send them into the last eight - and the defending champions home.