England has closed its pool play at the 2023 Rugby World Cup with four wins from four outings, sealing things with a late 18-17 victory over an impressive Samoan team in Lille.

Trailing with five minutes to play, England looked devoid of ideas as the Samoan defense turned them away time after time.

Eventually, the English pressure would tell, as veteran scrumhalf Danny Care scooted over from close range to set up a straightforward conversion for captain Owen Farrell.

𝗔 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 @dannycare 🌹#ENGvSAM | #RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/njSBTDJA0K

— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) October 7, 2023

Farrell would knock over the routine conversion, and following a few minutes of flurried Samoan attack, England closed out a much-needed, albeit uninspiring, victory.

Encapsulating the English struggles was a Farrell penalty that, while successful, would be ruled out, as he used the full allotted time on the shot clock.

While focusing on the English negativities would be easy, Samoa must be applauded for its ability to disrupt the English attack. 

Physically dominating the gain line, Samoa was full value for the lead and will be frustrated in letting what would have been a famous victory slip away.

As was the case with their South Pacific neighbor Tonga, the Samoans continued to show improvements as the competition went on. Unfortunately, their World Cup came to an end with the loss to England, though it will be interesting to see where they go to from here.

On the other side, England heads into the quarterfinals on shaky ground, where it likely will face a Fijian team that beat it at Twickenham in their final World Cup warm-up fixture.