New Zealand Maori maintained their unbeaten run in the IRB Pacific Nations Cup, but were made to fight for the 17-6 victory by a rugged Samoa side at the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Saturday.
The Maori, who made 10 changes to the team that had defeated Fiji 11-7 last weekend, shaded the forward exchanges in a physical first half and despite having to fight for every yard they led 17-0 at the break, courtesy of tries from Callum Bruce and Piri Weepu.
Bruce opened the scoring after 12 minutes when the Samoans were penalised for obstruction at the lineout and the visitors' woes increased when they were temporarily reduced to 14 men after lock Chad Slade was yellow carded in the 19th minute.
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Slade, offside at a maul, essentially paid for the indiscretions of two team-mates who could also have been penalised during the Maoris' first concerted attack deep in Samoan territory.
Looking to capitalise on their numerical advantage, the Maoris pushed for the opening try, but the Samoans held firm until eight minutes into the sin bin period when Bruce deftly grubber-kicked into the dead ball area and narrowly beat team-mate Tim Bateman to the touchdown.
With half-time rapidly approaching the Samoans looked to have weathered the storm rather well, but NZ Maori dealt a hammer blow when Liam Messam and Thomas Waldrom made ground before Waldrom released his Wellington team-mate and former All Black half back Weepu on an unimpeded run to the line.
Unperturbed by the score arrears, the Samoans regrouped in the second half and Gavin Williams, a star during Samoa's RWC 2007 campaign, landed a 46 metre penalty in the 45th minute.
Williams slotted another three-pointer in the 64th minute but the visitors could not sustain the pressure and were further hampered by the dismissal to the bin of man mountain Anitelea Tuilagi for a late block on Weepu after the half back had spilled the ball.
A lack of cohesion from both sides in the second half that scoring chances were a rarity as Samoa continued to frustrate the Maori with rugged tight play. Neither side looked like adding to their score and the game petered out in the final quarter.
New Zealand Maori host Japan in Napier next Saturday while Samoa face Tonga in Nuku'alofa.
