The only clean element of England’s nervy 18-17 Rugby World Cup win over Samoa proved the Red Rose men’s sweep of Pool D.
England trudged to a tetchy and error-strewn victory over the Pacific Islanders, rounding off their pool phase with four wins from four matches.
Wales or Fiji likely await Steve Borthwick’s men in the quarter-finals, and England must raise their level significantly to see off either foe.
England have never lost to Samoa but came closer than ever to relinquishing that 100 per cent record at Lille’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Danny Care zipped in to spare England’s blushes at the death of a game filled with bluster and blunder.
Ollie Chessum capped England’s finest move of the match at the top of the day with an impressive try, but Borthwick’s men slipped markedly off the pace.
Samoa led the match for 45 minutes, and had Lima Sopoaga found a way to drop a late goal, England would have been defeated.
Wing Nigel Ah Wong scored two fine tries for Samoa, who had an effort from Duncan Paia'aua chalked off.
Chessum and Joe Marchant saw tries for England disallowed too, while Farrell had a penalty scotched for exceeding the 60-second shot clock.
Tumua Manu’s 66th-minute yellow card proved decisive, as England – only just – exploited the extra man to sneak to victory.
England had hoped to produce a peformance of fluidity and form ahead of the knockout stages, but in terms of accuracy and intensity, it is back to the drawing board once more for Borthwick’s charges.
At least England claimed the win, but now they must crank up all aspects of their game by at least 30 per cent to deliver a last-eight victory.
England started so well, with Ford and Farrell back in tandem and in total sync. Chessum high stepped home on the left wing, sent over the whitewash by an inspired Tuilagi.
The moment England sent the ball through the hands the score was on. Everyone kept composure, held their lines and in a flash, Tuilagi was through the line, drawing the cover and sending Chessum home.
Farrell surpassed Jonny Wilkinson’s record England points total with a penalty to close the first quarter, but then England slipped off the pace spectacularly.
If Ah Wong's first try was good, Samoa building in waves, constructing their phase play expertly to send the wing in at the right corner, his second was even better.
Samoa punted an eminently kickable penalty to the corner, won the lineout and refused to panic when England sacked their maul.
Sopoaga took aim and delivered a pinpoint cross-field kick for Ah Wong to capitalise on England’s shallow defence set-up, to race through, collect and dot down in one fluid motion.
Sopoaga converted both scores, to put Samoa into a 14-8 lead. The Pacific Islanders took that advantage into the break, but were hard done by not to have a third score to their names.
Paia’aua delivered an acrobatic finish when latching onto a loose ball, with Ben Earl and Maro Itoje both unable to field Alex Mitchell’s scuffed box-kick.
The try was awarded and Sopoaga even missed his conversion, but then the score was chalked off for a knock-on by Manu.
Good for 15 minutes, bad for 25, England had it all to do at the interval. England sought for a fast restart, with Tom Curry claiming a fine turnover penalty.
But England spurned a fine platform in the Samoa 22 trying to force a midfield pass to Tuilagi that was never on. Samoa broke 70 metres, and eventually settled for a Sopoaga penalty to stretch their lead to 17-8.
Borthwick wasted no time in attempting to spark England back into attacking life, withdrawing George Ford with half an hour to play.
Marcus Smith stepped into the fray at full-back, Freddie Steward shifted out to the wing, and Tuilagi and Marchant combined in the centres. Farrell stepped up to fly-half as England threw their current vogue change backline into action.
Chessum thought he had scored after a series of tight phases, but TV officials disallowed the effort, judging the lock to have carried out a double movement.
Marchant really thought he had scored just minutes later, when Smith scythed Samoa open, sending Itoje crashing through the middle.
The Stade Francais-bound Marchant zipped in and finished well, only for a forward pass from Itoje to thwart England again. England had to settle instead for a Farrell penalty, that cut Samoa’s lead to 17-11.
Farrell banged his next place kick straight through the posts, only to see the effort scrubbed off - because he had exceeded the 60-second shot clock limit.
England finally claimed the vital second try when Care coasted in off a short-range scrum, with Farrell converting – to put England back into the lead at 18-17.
Samoa refused to relent and tried to put Sopoaga in position for a drop goal, only for the fly-half to dummy the strike and wind up buried in a heap and turned over.
The Pacific Islanders came again and conjured another field-length break, only to lose the ball on England’s five-metre line.
England clung onto possession deep in their own half, then Farrell booted out to seal the most slender of wins.
