They may be below their Hong Kong-winning best form, but the tough-tackling Samoans are a side who should never be discounted
In 1993, Samoa went into the inaugural World Cup in Edinburgh, Scotland as one of the hot favourites.
They had a team packed with power and skill and had just beaten Fiji in a bruising final to win their first Hong Kong Sevens title.
But it fell apart for the Samoans at cold and wet Murrayfield and outsiders England romped away with the title.
A dozen years later and it is Samoa who are now the outsiders with England among the favourites. But some things stay the same, such as Brian Lima, the Samoan stalwart who at 32 is still going strong.
Lima, nicknamed the 'chiropractor' because of his bone-adjusting tackling, will play a key role in coach John Schuster's team, especially after the loss of the powerful Semo Sititi to injury.
The Newcastle Falcons player broke his jaw last week while playing in England and was forced to withdraw. His replacement is Kiri Mariner. Both Lima and Sititi were in the pool of players picked for the southern hemisphere team in their recent tsunami charity match against the northern hemisphere.
