Manu Samoa has won the 2000 Epson Cup,but was made to work hard in beating a determined United States 19-12 in the final game of the championship.

In front of a good crowd at San Francisco's Boxer Stadium the Samoans ran in three tries to two to seal victory, although the Americans dominated territorially for most of the 80 minutes.

Manu Samoa opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a try by scrumhalf Filemu that resulted from a sweeping movement downfield that started inside their own quarter. The score was converted by flyhalf Vili and the islanders took a 7-0 lead.

Possession went back and forth for the next quarter of an hour before the US Eagles replied with a try of their own in the 31st minute. The touch down by loose forward Schubert resulted from a lineout close to the Samoan goal line and flyhalf Grant Wells converted to level the score at 7-7.

Manu Samoa hit right back in the 35th minute when the islanders won a lineout just 5 meters out and Filemu fed Vili who dummied and ducked under a tackle to dot down out wide. The attempted conversion was pushed wide leaving the score at 12-7 in favor of the Samoans. That was the halftime score.

The second half began with both sides missing long range shots at goal before the Americans gained possession from a Samoan mistake on their own 10 meter line. In the 51st minute Eagle outside center Phillip Eloff made a bust and the ball wound up in the hands of winger Malakai Delai who scored a try that went unconverted to see the US draw level at 12-12.

Sustained attack by Samoa and gritty defense by the Eagles set the tone of play for the next stanza that led up to what turned out to be the match-winning try in the 60th minute. The ball passed through more than a dozen pairs of hands during a series of rucks before second rower Curtis crashed over the line. The try was converted by Vili and Samoa took a 19-12 lead.

In the dying stages of the match the Eagles bombed a possible try scoring opportunity that could have leveled the score, but instead they gave possession back to Samoa who held on for the victory.

Afterwards Eagles coach Duncan Hall praised his players, "I'm very proud of the team. They dominated territorially, their tackling was excellent, the scrum was solid as were the lineouts.

"We're a young team and we're learning all the time. We're learning to adapt to different conditions and situations. We had a couple of chances that we didn't take, especially late in the game, and we gave Samoa a couple of chances that they did take. I'm proud and pleased with our performance today."

The win leapfrogged Manu Samoa ahead of Fiji in the final standings and gave John Boe's charges their first Epson Cup championship.

Manu Samoa
1 Lealamanua 2 Fuga 3 Asi 4 Curtis 5 Tone 6 Sititi 7 Glendinning 8 Feaunati (C) 9 Filemu 10 Vili 11 Lima 12 Va'aiga Tuifgamala 13 Vaega 14 Seveali'i 15 Samania 16 Tyreli 17 Ngapaku 18 Fanoloa 19 Matauiau 20 Leota 21 Palepoi 22 Cowley

United States
1 Clayton 2 Khasigian 3 Lehner 4 Farner 5 Gross 6 Fifita 7 Schubert 8 Hodges (C) 9 Dalzell 10 Wells 11 Delai 12 Grobler 13 Eloff 14 Anitoni 15 Shuman 16 Naivalu 17 Wilfley 18 Timoteo 19 Younger 20 Kane 21 McBride 22 Flynn