Well done Manu!

The All Blacks might have won the historical first test match between Samoa and New Zealand in Apia but Samoa celebrated nonetheless.

And they had every reason to.

After a week of festivities and rugby celebrations, Manu Samoa is the toast of the country having given the All Blacks a mighty good run for their money at Apia Park yesterday.

The All Blacks scraped home, 25-16, in front of a vocal sea of blue supporters. “It’s hard to explain,” Coach Stephen Betham told the Samoa Observer.

“You know when you’re in it with a chance, it's disappointing when you lose. We came with high hopes that if we can hold the scrum, there is a possibility of an upset but we’ve got to take the positives out of it.”

Betham’s reaction was echoed by his Assistant coach and dual international, Namulauulu Alama Ieremia, who said Samoa could have won the game.

“In the end, I’m very, very happy with the effort and the performance from the boys,” he said. “When you play a top-side like the All Blacks, around the contact area, your decision making has to be pretty accurate otherwise you’re turning the ball over.

“When you’ve got the likes of Richie McCaw, he plays the law right to the edge and the last couple of rucks, I thought, were questionable but that’s footy.”

But McCaw paid tribute to the Manu Samoa’s heroic performance.

"I'm not sure words can justify the type of match it was," he told the crowd after the game. "I will say to the Manu Samoa team, the way you played that's what true test match rugby is all about and we said before we came that was what we'd get.

"And that's what you boys did."

The match was a world away from the scoreline when the teams last played each other in New Plymouth where New Zealand posted more than a hundred points over the Manu.

Both teams scored a try each with the experience and the trusted boot of Daniel Carter proving the difference between the two sides. Carter kicked four penalties in the first half while Tusi Pisi landed one for a 12-3 scoreline at the break.

The men in blue managed to hold the high-flying world champions try-less in the first spell. But a pin point accurate cross kick from Carter found debutant, George Moala, three minutes into the second half for the game’s first try, 19-3.

Pisi responded with two penalties to reduce the deficit, 19-9.

In the 60th minute, Carter extended their lead with his fifth penalty conversion of the match, 22-9.

It was in 68th minute when loosie Alafoti Faosiliva ran through the All Blacks to score Samoa’s only try, lifting the crowd and his teammates. Pisi landed the conversion and Samoa was six points away from a very famous victory, 22-16.

But it wasn't to be. Carter landed one more penalty conversion for the All Blacks to close out the game, despite a late fight back from the men in blue.

At halftime, Namulauulu said the message to the team was very simple.

“We said weren’t going to die wondering” he said. “We wasted a quarter of the game with our mistakes so let’s back ourselves and lets not wait for someone else to get in there and stop kicking our ball away.

“I guess we’re always going to be rusty in certain areas but in the parts of the game we tried to focus on, the boys pulled through. We’re very proud of the boys and the whole squad as well supporting the test team.”

Coach Betham said yesterday’s performance has given them a good idea about what they need to do months away from the Rugby World Cup.

“We wanted to measure ourselves and to measure it against the best team in the world. What this shows is that when we want to do the job we can,” he said.

“But it’s about being consistent now, stepping up to the mark and giving it the best we can for the next couple of games.”

Betham hailed a fabulous performance from his forward pack. Faosiliva’s stellar performance also answered a lot of questions about his selection.

“We knew he could do the job and it was a matter of giving him the chance,” Betham said. “Having said that when, we brought on Maurie and he did his work. So everyone played their part today as a team but unfortunately we came up short.”

The Manu Samoa went through three captains yesterday after Ofisa Treviranus could not continue the second half with a neck injury. Pisi replaced Treviranus but the first five also had to come off after he cramped up. Kahn Fotuali’i moved to first five and resumed the captaincy role.

Asked about for his thoughts on the game, Pisi said he was disappointed.

“Not far off is not good enough,” he said about the result. “We prepared to win, we prepared to come out here and win. When you play against the best team in the world, you can’t make silly mistakes and I made about two and you can’t afford to do that. Having said that, we gave it our all but at the end of the day, we came up second best.

“I think it’s just staying in the game mentally. When it’s the last 15 minutes, it’s all mental. It’s about sticking to our systems and I think that just let us down.

About the All Blacks, he said: “They’re the number one team in the world, they're well drilled. It doesn't really matter who puts on that jersey and that’s just like us, it doesn't really matter who puts on the jersey, we all play hard for our country and that’s what you saw out there today.”