Samoa wing Ben Lam will miss their final Rugby World Cup pool game against England after receiving a three-game ban on Monday for his red card against Japan. Lam shoulder-tackled the head of Pieter Labuschagne last Thursday in Toulouse. Samoa played the last 33 minutes a man down and lost to Japan 28-22.
Samoa thought it was ready for the Rugby World Cup after going closer than anyone in more than a year to beating top-ranked Ireland on a rainy night in Bayonne. The Samoans found gaps, stood their ground and gave away no freebies, and Ireland squeaked home from behind 17-13 two weeks before the tournament. A month later, the promising quarterfinal hopes of a Samoa team with some big names have been snuffed out in Pool D after consecutive losses to Argentina and Japan.
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Argentina is one of 12 fortunate teams at the Rugby World Cup to have a long break of 12-14 days between games at some point during the pool stage. Samoa is not one of them. Manu Samoa and Los Pumas meet in a key Pool D clash on Friday in Saint-Etienne.
France-born Tunisia international Hannibal Mejbri scored his first goal for Manchester United at the weekend, four years after joining the club.His exuberant celebration drew some criticism given struggling United's predicament, but Mejbri said "years of work went into that moment to score a goal for this incredible club".