Furious Samoans slam Welsh referee Owens

Beaten Samoa captain Mahonri Schwalger let fly at Welsh referee Nigel Owens, who he said was 'pretty hard on us' in their loss to South Africa.

Owens' mistake in ruling wing David Lemi did not release the ball in a tackle, when he was never held, robbed Samoa of momentum just short of the goal-line at a vital stage of the game.

Schwalger complained that South Africa had been slowing his side's ball down all game without being penalised while he felt the sending-off of fullback Paul Williams for an open slap on Heinrich Brussow had a 'little bit of acting' involved in it.

The fact that Brussow had delivered four blows against Williams went unpunished.

"The red card was a little bit harsh," Schwalger said.

However, Schwalger said he was proud of his side who had given their all in what was a special occasion against the defending world champions.

"It was our only chance to stay in the tournament but our boys fronted up and gave it their all," he said.

Samoa assistant coach Aussie McLean said the side which paid the price for being tactically poor in their earlier game against Wales had played good rugby against South Africa.

Schwalger was confident that given chances against more leading nations in the world the Samoans would do well in the next few years.

South African coach Peter de Villiers said they did not plan for such an intense match but claimed it would prove invaluable come the knockout stages.

"We will never have a more physical game in this tournament again," he said.

"We knew they would be up for it. Three months ago they beat Australia. They are always up for it, they are always physical."

South Africa had played 'complete rugby' in the first half while in the second half their defence had never let them down, he added.

"We had to become champions again and we had a hell of a pool to get through. Now it is all systems go," he said.

Captain Victor Matfield said the Samoans had nothing to lose and threw everything at South Africa but he was happy with the discipline.

He accused the Samoans of being ill-disciplined.

"We didn't get involved and stayed out of all the crap," he said.