Scotland are in danger of missing out on the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals as they trail Samoa by three points at half time in this afternoon's Rugby World Cup Pool B encounter in Newcastle.
The match started at an electric pace and points were on the board inside five minutes thanks to the boot of Samoa fly-half Tusi Pisi after Scotland had illegally brought down a maul.
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Scotland were back on level terms quickly through Greig Laidlaw's penalty, as this time referee Jaco Peyper spotted the Samoan pack collapse a scrum.
Chaotic end-to-end rugby followed as three tries were scored in as many minutes before the quarter-hour mark at St James' Park.
First, Pisi touched down in the corner and then converted from the touchline, but Scotland hit back instantly as Tommy Seymour stole a risky pass right on the Samoan try line to go over.
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Samoa's backline was causing all sorts of problems for Scotland and they scored their second try straight from kickoff as hooker Manu Leiataua, on his World Cup debut, scored his first international try.
Laidlaw closed the gap to two points with a second penalty, but the Scots couldn't handle the pace of Samoa's movement as Le Manu scored a third midway through the opening period through Reynold Lee-Lo.
Pisi missed both conversions for the second and third tries, but Laidlaw was proving much more consistent with the boot and sent over another penalty to leave the match 20-16 in Samoa's favour after a breakneck opening 25 minutes.
Scotland's task of taking the lead before the interval was made difficult in the 29th minute when Ryan Wilson was sin-binned for a stamp, but they then pulled level with a converted try as John Hardie surged over thanks to a driving maul.
Samoa thought they had scored a fourth try in the closing moments, but Sakaria Taulafo's effort was chalked off as the TMO spotted that Laidlaw had been impeded in the build-up.
Le Manu were awarded a penalty, though, and Pisi made no mistake from close range to put the Samoans 26-23 up at the break. The 49 points scored is the highest tally of any first half at this year's tournament.
If Scotland fail to win, it opens the door for Japan to nick second place when they take on bottom side USA in their final group game tomorrow.
Pascal Lemesre
