Samoa ease past battling Russia in bruising Rugby World Cup encounter

• Rey Lee-Lo and Motu Matu’u see yellow in first half• Samoa take control after break to earn bonus pointSamoa survived being reduced to 13 men for almost 10 minutes in the first half and battled past a limited and exhausted Russia team to open their Pool A campaign with a bonus-point 34-9 win at Kumagaya Rugby Stadium.The Pacific islanders scored six tries – but did themselves no favours in a scrappy game in which Lee‑Lo and Motu Matu’u were shown yellow cards for high tackles within two minutes of each other. Russia’s Kirill Gotovtsev was also sent to the sin-bin for a similar offence. Relat…