Samoa have moved into first place in Pool C, beating Georgia 46-9 at Subiaco Oval in Perth in front of 21,500 fans.
A dry West Australian night allowed a powerful display of running rugby by Samoa, their six tries securing a bonus point for a total of 10 Pool points, one ahead of England and five ahead of South Africa.
The Georgian side were no easy beats, giving the 1995 RWC Quarter finalists a tough physical hit out, however, the consistent penalties that the Georgians gave away in the match, 19 in total, put an end to any momentum built up by either side.
Georgia defended well for the ten minutes reserve Irakli Machkhaneli spent in the sin bin from the 44th minute.
It was not until the last quarter that Samoa started to score more freely, with many long range running tries shared throughout the team.
Sailosi Tagicakibau was a stand out for Samoa, his loping, weaving running resembling the All Black try scoring machine Rokocoko as he beat two down the sideline for the first try of the match and continued to look dangerous throughout.
The Pacific Islanders went into the break leading comfortably at 24-9 over their Eastern European counterparts thanks to cutting runs through the Georgian side by scrum half Steven So’oialo.
Earl Va’a was dominant, scoring 21 points from a try, five conversions and two penalty goals. He dummied his way through the defence for his try in the 22nd minute after his forwards set up the platform with three rolling mauls.
Other notable tries came through captain and number 8 Semo Sititi who beat three on an angled 35 metre run to the left hand corner, securing the bonus point with his 60th minute scamper.
Scorers:
Samoa 46
Tries: Tagicakibau, Va’a, So’oialo, Sititi, Lima, D.Feaunati
Conv: Va’a (5)
Penalties: Va’a (2)
Drop Goals:
Georgia 9
Tries:
Conv: Jimsheladze (2)
Drop Goals: Jimsheladze