Samoa held off a second-half revival by visitors Tonga to post a 43-17 win in Apia on Friday and their first victory in the Pacific Nations Cup.
Winger Tuna Tuitama scored two tries as Samoa took a 29-0 lead before Tonga fought back after the break with loose forward Lotu Inisi touching down twice.
Samoa sealed the win with flanker Izaiha Moore-Aiono and lock Samuel Slade grabbing late tries.
The hosts bounced back in Apia having been thumped 42-16 by Fiji in their opening Pool A game last Friday in Suva.
The Samoans led from the front against Tonga as centre Stacey Ili crashed over from the base of the ruck, before setting up the second try for Tuitama.
Fly-half D’Angelo Leuila kicked both conversions and landed a penalty as Samoa went into the break 17-0 up.
The hosts grabbed two more tries in quick succession after the break.
Tuitama bagged his second and Moore-Aiono dotted down from close range, stretching the score to 29-3 as Tonga fly-half Patrick Pellegrini landed a penalty to put the visitors on the board.
The Tongans further narrowed the gap to 29-17 with just under 20 minutes left when No. 8 Inisi twice barged his way over.
Pellegrini landed both conversions, to the delight of the travelling fans.
The hosts sealed the win when Moore-Aiono grabbed his second try from close range and Slade burst through the defence to score Samoa’s sixth try.
In Pool B on Saturday the USA host Canada, who lost their opening game to Japan last weekend.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the knock-out stages, ahead of the final in Osaka on September 21.
USA into semis after beating Canada
The United States secured a place in the semi-finals of rugby’s Pacific Nations Cup with a 28-15 win over Canada in Carson, California on Saturday.
The victory means the USA are guaranteed to progress to the last four from the pool stage regardless of the outcome of their final game against Japan in Tokyo next weekend.
Canada have lost both their games in Pool B meaning they will play in a fifth-place playoff game in Japan.
The USA scored three first-half tries to take control of the game.
After an exchange of penalty goals, Connor Mooneyham got the first try, racing down the line after a poor clearance from the Canadians.
Mooneyham added another try after being found by Tavite Lopeti to make it 13-3.
Canada fought back when a short pass from Andrew Quattrin set up Nic Benn for a try but the conversion was missed leaving the Americans ahead by five.
After Canada turned the ball over in their own half, Luke Carty produced some smart work to find Mitch Wilson who ran in the third try for the Americans to lead 18-8 at the break.
The USA dominated the second half and put the game beyond Canada when Kapeli Pifeleti burst in for a try which was initial ruled out for holding up but was awarded after a review.
Cooper Coats pulled back a try for Canada in the 59th minute but the outcome was never in doubt.
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