Match report
I’ll leave you with Gerard Meagher’s match report from Toulouse. Thanks for joining me. Goodnight!
In the ITV studio, Nolli Waterman makes a good point about Samoa’s international line-up. The birthright rule has made their squad stronger but with players based all over the world, she notes that they have struggled for cohesion.
By contrast, Japan looked like a slick machine, with their squad drawn from across the globe but all based in the Japanese domestic league. That is not something Samoa can realistically replicate, but perhaps expectations were too high this time around.
