Samoans can cash in if they cause a shock

The Samoan Rugby Union cannot afford the kind of financial incentives offered to members of the major national squads, with England leading the way on £8,500 per man a match and a £2million bonus if they manage to defend the trophy.

However, Peter Schuster, the Samoan RFU chief executive, told Standard Sport that it has been agreed that his players will be given a half share of the £75,000 bonus the team would receive if they made it into the last eight. That would be worth just over £1,200 for each member of the squad.

Schuster said: "The boys don't play for the money although being offered the £8,500 England get for each match might make them run even faster!

"We do what we can in terms of helping the boys and while the Rugby World Cup organisers pick up the bills for hotels, laundry and travel, we are only able to give them a small amount of money for incidentals like a bottle of coke and phone calls.

"This is about £20 but we have told all of the players that if they can make the quarter-finals they will get half of the £75,000, which is only right.

"Many of our players earn a living in Europe and send a lot of their money back home to their families and it's a bit like people from Poland moving to work in Britain and then sending money back to that country."

Samoa have restored World Cup veteran Brian Lima to their starting line-up for tomorrow's match in Nantes.

Lima, the only man to play in five World Cups, was on the receiving end of a crunching collision during Samoa's 59-7 loss to South Africa almost a fortnight ago.

He then missed the 19-15 defeat against Tonga, but has now been brought back for a game Samoa must win to keep alive their quarter-final hopes.

Lima, 35, will partner London Irish centre Seilala Mapusua in midfield as part of an all-Guinness Premiership back division apart from scrum-half Junior Polu.

Samoa Coach Michael Jones said: "We are all very clear on the significance of this game and what it means in terms of what we represent in terms of our country, our families, all the good things we play for.

"If we get it wrong this week - we don't even want to think about that.

The boys are excited, they're very bubbly and very focused on getting a result.

"England are just as desperate as we are. They have their backs against the wall, too, and will come out fired up against us.

"There is a typical England look to this team.

"At the last World Cup they were called 'Dad's Army' and 'the geriatrics', but we've got a lot of respect for England and I think they have a lot of respect for us.

"They have a high regard for our players."