A spirited Manu Samoa were pipped 18-17 in the last minutes of the game by a sluggish England side who outlasted a bruising, brilliant Samoa performance in their last match of the Rugby World Cup.

The result means England go through to the quarter-finals however this game would clearly be Manu Samoa’s best performance of the RWC.

Theo McFarland was once outstanding and a better effort was put by the backline as well. Fritz Lee and Steven Luatua were also doing damage with their tackles and turning over possession.

Even without his favourite kicking tee, Lima Sopoaga had an outstanding game at flyhalf.

Danny Care's 73rd-minute dart from the base of a scrum was the decisive score in an 18-17 victory.

Manu Samoa, the underdogs led 17-8 early in the second half and could have been further clear, seeing a third try ruled out for the faintest of knock-ons.

Samoa could yet have snatched a sucker-punch victory as they swept upfield only to spill forward five metres short in the penultimate play of the game.

England scored first and led 8-0 through a penalty but then Samoa twisted the script of the game.

A series of quicksilver phases was capped with Steven Luatua and Tumua Manu's deft hands putting Nigel Ah Wong into the corner.

Five minutes later he was over again, gathering and dotting down former All Black Lima Sopoaga's raking crossfield kick just before the dead-ball line.

That one-two punch could easily have been followed up with a potential knockout blow as Duncan Paia'Aua pounced on Alex Mitchell's botched box kick and dived in.

Brace, with the help of the television match official, belatedly detected a marginal knock-on in the preceding melee to rule out the score. Samoa went into the breather leading 17-8 and came back with the same momentum in the second half.

Samoa, spirited and aggressive, were sniffing a victory to arguably outdo their shock wins over Wales in 1991 and 1999.

But, in sight of that landmark, they faltered, falling asleep at the set-piece to allow an alert Care to scamper in and spare England's blushes. This was helped by the 66^th minute yellow card shown to Tumua Manu for tackling without the ball.

In the dying minutes Neria Fomai was clear to score but a try saving tackle by Danny Care saw him spill the ball with England just needing to kick the ball out to end the match.

Samoa finished the World Cup with seven points gaining a bonus point from the match against England.