Victory in the Plate final wasn't quite enough to bring a smile to the face of Samoan coach Stephen Betham, who said he would be leaving town thinking more about what might have been.
Samoa left it to the dying seconds to snatch a 12-10 win over Argentina, twice throwing away golden opportunities to seal the deal as the clock ticked down before Taulagi Afamasaga went left, then right and then over the line. The players looked more relieved than elated as a tough tournament seemed to have taken its toll.
Coming off a stunning victory over New Zealand to win the world series event in Las Vegas last month, big things were expected of the Samoans, and they had left the stadium buzzing on Saturday night with a stirring 26-19 victory over England in their final group game.
But they just didn't seem to turn up in the second half of their Cup quarter-final against South Africa, watching on as their opponents piled on 22 unanswered points to win 27-14. Betham said that would be one of the first issues he would try to address with his squad.
'We are just not consistent enough,' he said. 'We went to sleep for seven minutes against South Africa and that cost us the game. The thing we have to work at is that we have to play out the whole game. We're not consistent enough and that just has to change.
'We play well one time and then we tend to relax. But some of the boys are young - half the squad here were new - so we are trying to build their confidence.'