United States coach Peter Thorburn has made three changes to his team.

Centre Philip Eloff replaces Albert Tuipulotu, Hayden Mexted is in for Mike Mangan at lock, and Fifita Mounga for Henry Bloomfield at number eight.

USA: Chris Wyles, Salesi Sika, Philip Eloff, Vahafolau Esikia, Takudzwa Ngwenya, Mike Hercus (c), Chad Erskine; Mike MacDonald, Owen Lentz, Chris Osentowski, Alec Parker, Hayden Mexted, Louis Stanfill, Todd Clever, Fifita Mounga.
Replacements: Blake Burdette, Matekitonga Moeakiola, Mark Aylor, Henry Bloomfield, Mike Petri, Valenese Malifa, Albert Tuipulotu.

Brian Ashton’s men romped to a 23-6 lead after half an hour following a quick-fire try from Martin Corry and a further score from wing Paul Sackey.

Jonny Wilkinson chipped in with the boot but Samoa’s Loki Crichton edged his side back to 23-12 at the break.

A Junior Polu try gave England a scare but Wilkinson’s boot, and late scores from Corry and Sackey, saved the day.

The bonus-point win took England into joint second in Pool A with Tonga, who lost 30-25 to group winners South Africa earlier.

England face Tonga in their last group game in Paris on 28 September in what will be a winner-takes-all clash for the second qualification place.

Samoa, who lost to Tonga earlier in the tournament, have still to face USA but their chances of qualification are over.

England made the perfect start when they charged down a kick from Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu and recycled the ball for skipper Corry to crash over in the right corner in the second minute.

Wilkinson converted and quickly added a drop-goal but Crichton pulled three points back, and some bullocking runs from Tuilagi brothers Alesana and Henry gave Samoa good field position from where Crichton added another kick.

England were playing a structured and controlled game, interspersed with bursts of Samoan magic from the likes of Polu, but Wilkinson kept the scoreboard ticking with another two penalties, though he missed a third on 25 minutes.

Ashton’s men looked to be finding their rhythm and a sharp, fiery period from England on the half hour took them deep into the Samoan 22.

When the ball came out left to Wilkinson, his side-footed dink through the defensive line bounced favourably for the chasing Sackey to touch down.

But if England thought that would signal the end of the Samoan resistance, they were wrong. Very wrong.

A bold counter from an England punt took Samoa back into the opposition half and they came away with a quick penalty through Crichton, followed by two more as they ended the period strongly.

Crichton continued where he left off after the break as Wilkinson was penalised for “lazy running” or retreating too slowly. But England’s fly-half made amends shortly after with a third penalty following Brian Lima’s high tackle on him.

England, though, were rocked when snappy Samoan handling down the right flank following a miscued Josh Lewsey kick led to hooker Mahroni Schwalger chipping on.

Scrum-half Polu beat Mathew Tait in the foot race and his diving touchdown was ruled a try for 26-22.

If they didn’t before, England now realised they were back in a serious rugby match.

Summoning up some extra fizz, England rumbled powerfully towards Samoa’s line, but Wilkinson’s mask of invincibility slipped a bit when he missed a free shot at a drop-goal and then the ensuing penalty that was coming anyway.

But Samoa stoked their own fires, and after a comedy of errors from both sides, England’s Lewsey was forced to scramble desperately as the Pacific Islanders poured to within yards of the line.

England’s defence held firm this time and Wilkinson was able to add a drop-goal with 10 minutes left after the referee had signalled a penalty was coming.

The fly-half slotted a penalty soon after to ease the tension and as England finished impressively, Corry and Sackey both popped up at the death to score their second tries.

Loki Crichton comes in at full-back for the injured Williams, while David Lemi moves to the right wing.

Number 8 Henry Tuilagi and fly-half Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu also return, along with prop Kas Lealamanua.

Lima became the first player to appear at five World Cups when he came on as a replacement in Samoa’s 59-7 defeat to South Africa.

However, the veteran Bristol centre, nicknamed ‘the Chiropractor’ for his crunching tackles, was knocked out minutes after coming on and was subsequently ruled out of his side’s 19-15 loss to Tonga on Sunday.

Both sides need a victory to maintain their hopes of reaching the latter stages of the tournament, a fact not lost on Samoa coach Michael Jones.

“We’re all very clear on the significance of this game and what it means in terms of what we represent in terms of our country, our families, all the good things we play for,” he said.

“If we get it wrong this week – we don’t even want to think about that. The boys are excited, they’re very bubbly and very focused.”

L Crichton (Worcester); D Lemi (Bristol), S Mapusua (London Irish), B Lima (Bristol), A Tuilagi (Leicester); E Fuimaono-Sapolu (Bath), J Polu (North Harbour); K Lealamanua (Dax), M Schwalger (Wellington Hurricanes), C Johnston (Saracens), J Tekori (Waitakere), K Thompson (Otago Highlanders), D Leo (Wasps), S Sititi (Docomo Kansai, capt), H Tuilagi (Perpignan).
Replacements: T Fuga (Harlequins), F Palaamo (Leeds), J Purdie (Wellington), A Vaeluaga (Bristol), S So’oialo (Harlequins), J Meafou (Scopa), L Lui (Moata’a).

Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson returns after missing the first two games with an ankle injury, while Josh Lewsey moves from wing to full-back.

Olly Barkley, Mark Cueto, Mathew Tait, Joe Worsley and George Chuter also come in after the 36-0 loss to South Africa.

Shaun Perry and Mike Catt drop from the 22, while Martin Corry stays captain.
 
“Quite a few of the changes are down to players being available again and players who did play against South Africa being injured – one who’s gone home and one who is walking slowly and very gingerly around the hotel – so that accounts for at least four changes,” said Ashton.

“There aren’t many more than that, to be honest, so it doesn’t smack of desperation at all. A lot of it is needs must.”

Wilkinson, who has been plagued by injury since kicking the winning drop-goal in the 2003 World Cup final, damaged ankle ligaments in training before the tournament and was replaced by the impressive Barkley for the opening win over USA.

“I completely rolled my ankle, heard a load of noise and was in real agony. I pretty much resigned myself to the understanding that that was probably it,” said Wilkinson.

“But the scan result was as good as I could have hoped and I guess I’ve always been hoping that this time would come.”

Barkley then picked up a training ground injury himself and Ashton opted for the then 35-year-old veteran Catt at fly-half against South Africa, with Andy Farrell named as goal-kicker.

Wilkinson will now resume kicking duties, with the fit-again Barkley playing at inside centre in place of Farrell, who drops to the bench.

“We’ve got our two best kickers on the field and arguably our two best distributors as well and that will help to get a bit more balance into our game,” said Ashton.

“Obviously, Jonny has achieved great things for England rugby and to have players in there who have done that helps build confidence. Olly Barkley has been the form inside back and it was a great shame he wasn’t fit last week.”

Lewsey’s switch to full-back comes after Jason Robinson limped off with a hamstring injury late on against South Africa, though the former skipper could return for the final pool match with Tonga.

Cueto takes Lewsey’s spot on the wing, outside centre Tait replaces Jamie Noon, who sustained tournament-ending knee ligament damage against the Springboks, and Gomarsall plays instead of Perry at scrum-half.
Ashton said during the Six Nations that he would only consider Lewsey as a winger but admitted to making a U-turn.

“I know I did say that,” added Ashton. “I still think Mark Cueto has a future as an international 15 but he has not played a lot of rugby there and he has not made the progress quite as quickly as we would have hoped.
“Josh has been outstanding on this trip. His mindset is excellent and I’ve not got the slightest problem about him playing full-back.

“He’s always done a job for us before. Mark Cueto will play far more effectively on the wing where he has done it successfully at international level.”

Up front, Worsley is selected as an open-side flanker instead of Tom Rees, while Chuter plays at hooker in place of Mark Regan.

“Tom is still an emerging international player and he’s done a fantastic job for England but we felt Joe was more what was needed against Samoa,” said Ashton.
“Joe has shown in games for his club that he can be a big, big tackler in big games and if ever there was a game for him to stand up and be counted on that score it is against Samoa.

“I appreciate he’s not an out-and-out seven but we are going to play in a particular way in this game and Joe will have a big part in that.”

BBC 5live rugby commentator Ian Robertson said: “I don’t think England have hit the panic button. This looks a more exciting back division by a very long way than either of the ones that played against America or South Africa.

“The back row didn’t have such a good game (against South Africa) and I’m surprised there’s only one change there.

“The pack should be able to cope comfortably with Samoa and now England have a back division that ought to be good enough to score two or three tries to win this game comfortably.”
Samoa full-back and goal-kicker Gavin Williams will miss the match after fracturing a bone in his hand in the match against Tonga.
Williams has notched all of his side’s World Cup points so far, scoring and converting a try in the 7-59 loss to South Africa and kicking five penalties in the 15-19 defeat to the Tongans.

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England team to face Samoa: Lewsey; Sackey, Tait, Barkley, Cueto; Wilkinson, Gomarsall; Sheridan, Chuter, Stevens, Shaw, Kay, Corry (capt), Worsley, Easter.
Replacements: Regan, Freshwater, Borthwick, Moody, Richards, Farrell, Hipkiss.

Wilkinson’s injury nightmare, which has dogged the hero of 2003 virtually since that glory night in Sydney, struck again when he was injured in the build-up to the opener against the United States.

He missed that game, and the embarrassing 36-0 defeat by South Africa in the Stade de France last Friday.

But now the Newcastle number 10 says he’s fully recovered from a twisted ankle, and available for selection on Saturday.

“I’m fit now. So I am, as we stand, now available for selection,” Wilkinson said in his column in The Times.

“Kicking-wise I’ve been working mostly on my left foot but I fully expect to be working on my right foot this week,” he added.

Olly Barkley, who replaced Wilkinson in the opener, also missed the rout by the Springboks after sustaining a hip injury in training last week.

But he too is expected to be available against Samoa

Four penalties from Gavin Williams gave Samoa a 12-6 half-time lead.

But an Epi Taione try and five points from Pierre Hola, who had kicked two first-half penalties, put them 19-12 up in Montpellier.

A fourth Williams penalty trimmed the gap but Tonga held on to consolidate their second place in the group despite despite losing two men late on.

Samoa, who are England’s next opponents on 22 September, had been expected to provide the greatest threat to the floundering world champions’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.

But this result means England must now be dreading their meeting with Tonga, who beat USA in their opening game, on 28 September in Paris as well.

Tonga and Samoa have a reputation for being among the two most explosive sides in the world game but anyone expecting a pulsating opening to the encounter was to be disappointed.

Samoa had battered South Africa for 40 minutes in their opening match in France before running out of steam in the second half.

But they started slowly against Tonga, who drew first blood through Hola’s penalty.

Samoa soon hit back through a penalty from Williams, the son of former New Zealand legend Brian, and were also denied a try when the televison match official ruled out a score from Elvis Seveali’i.

Samoa’s territorial advantage led to two more Williams penalties, the second after a trademark charge from powerhouse Leicester winger Alesana Tuilagi.

When Tonga saw former Newcastle and Sale player Taione sin-binned after yet another infringement at a ruck, a fourth Williams penalty made it 12-3 after 28 minutes.

Tonga, ranked four places below Samoa, reduced the deficit through a second Hola penalty as the half ended 12-6.

Hola then added another three points before Tonga took the lead when Taione finished off a powerful forward drive.

Hola converted to make it 16-12 before edging his side further ahead with a fourth penalty.

Hale T Pole conceded a silly penalty to enable Williams to trim the gap to four points.

And the Tongan blind-side then put his side in deep trouble as he was red-carded following a forearm smash to the face of a Samoan with nine minutes to go.

Things went from bad to worse for Tonga as replacement Toma Toke was shown a yellow card for a high tackle to reduce the Sea Eagles to 13 men.

But Samoa could not take advantage as Tonga produced a series of big hits in defence to claim a shock victory

The Springboks took a 9-0 lead before Samoa scored the first try of the match through Gavin Williams.

Bryan Habana and Percy Montgomery tries gave the Boks a 21-7 half-time lead.

And further tries from Jaque Fourie, Montgomery, Habana – who claimed a second-half hat-trick – and JP Pietersen wrapped up a fine win.

With two of the most physical teams on the planet taking the field at the Parc des Princes the match always promised to be a bash-fest and so it proved as they combined to put on a thrilling opening 40 minutes.

Man for man the Samoans could match their Springbok counterparts for power but in the tight phases of the game, the scrum and the line-out, the Springboks had a clear edge.
 
And it meant that, once they had weathered a ferocious opening half from the Samoans, the Springboks had control of the game.

The fired-up Samoans gave it a lash from the first whistle.

Former Leicester number eight Henry Tuilagi produced some ferocious charges, but poor discipline allowed Montgomery to make them pay with three penalties in the opening 15 minutes.
The Pacific islanders’ inability to secure their own ball at the line-out was costing them dear but when they finally managed some decent possession they opened the scoring with a superb try.

Quick ball off the top was spun wide to inside centre Jerry Meafou and the timing of his pass sprung Williams through the South Africa midfield.

The Connacht centre outpaced the cover to score under the posts and he added the conversion to make it 9-7 to the Boks.

The quicker the pace of the game, the more dangerous Samoa looked, but the quickest man on the pitch was South Africa flyer Habana and his first real contribution to the game saw the Boks stretch clear.

 You could see a lot of nerves from both sides early on the way they finished it off in the second half is a huge positive

When he took Fourie’s pass as the Boks attacked down the blind-side of a ruck there looked to be little on.

But the electric Blue Bulls winger carved infield before breaking free of a tackle and scything through the remaining defence for a superb solo try.

Montgomery missed the fairly simple conversion but South Africa were soon back on the attack and after a series of attacking scrums Montgomery blasted through the final defender for the Springboks’ second try.

The veteran full-back added the conversion to make it 21-7 at the break but Samoa came desperately close to cutting the gap when Iosefa Fekori plunged over straight after the restart, only to be pulled back for offside.
Lima is the first player to appear in five World Cups but was injured after producing a dangerous tackle 

Springboks centre Jean de Villiers was helped off the field with an arm injury and was replaced by Francois Steyn.

Coach Jake White later suggested the 26-year-old was a major doubt for the match against England on Friday, and possibly the whole tournament.

If Samoa’s try had been awarded, they might still have been in with a shout but within little more than 10 minutes South Africa had cut loose with a quickfire try treble.

Fourie cut back against the grain to burst through the midfield and open his account for the tournament before Montgomery finished off a sweeping passing move to cross out wide.

Habana then collected his second spectacular long-range score of the match, beating three men on a dazzling run to the line, and two Montgomery conversions meant South Africa suddenly led 40-7 after an hour’s play.

The burst of scoring knocked the stuffing out of the Samoans and the pride they would have taken in the sight of 35-year-old Brian Lima coming on as a replacement would soon have evaporated.

When he took the field Lima became the first man to play in five World Cups, but he soon got a high tackle horribly wrong, conceding a penalty in the process, and was helped groggily from the field.

As the game went on South Africa were happy not to pick up any injuries, while Habana confirmed his status as the world’s most dangerous finisher with two more tries.

Montgomery converted the first effort and the Springboks will head into Friday’s encounter with faltering world champions England brim full of confidence.

Leicester wing Alesana Tuilagi starts, while Bristol’s David Lemi features in the full-back position and Bath centre Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu wears the number 10 shirt.
Up front, the pack includes Saracens prop Cencus Johnston and Wasps flanker Daniel Leo as Samoa prepare to tackle the Pool A favourites at Parc des Princes.

Harlequins hooker Tani Fuga, who was drafted into the squad as a replacement for injured lock Felipo Levi earlier this week, features on the bench, where he is joined by Sale Sharks centre Elvis Seveali’i, Worcester fly-half Loki Crichton and ex-Bristol back Brian Lima.

Team: D Lemi; L Fa’atau, G Williams, J Meafou, A Tuilagi; E Fuimaono-Sapolu, J Polu; J Va’a, M Schwalger, C Johnston, J Tekori, K Thompson, D Leo, S Sititi (capt), H Tuilagi.

Replacements: T Fuga, K Lealamanua, A Vaeluaga, J Purdie, E Seveali’i, L Crichton, B Lima.