Remarkable, quite remarkable. A dire game at the Stade de la Mosson here concluded with Tonga, against all the odds, second in pool A - unbeaten alongside South Africa and staring down at England, Samoa, their greatest rivals, and the United States.

Quite what it all means for England’s hopes of winning their last two pool games and thereby qualifying for the quarter-finals of the World Cup is anyone’s guess. Samoa had hoped to sustain a winning run over Tonga that had lasted since 2000 and carry that momentum through to Saturday’s game in Nantes with the wilting world champions; instead, they played a game that seemed so utterly foreign to their natures that they allowed Tonga back into a contest to win with only 13 players.

If any Pacific island side now fancies their prospects against England, it will be the Sea Eagles. “We don’t have much, but we have each other,” Nili Latu, Tonga’s outstanding captain, said. “Where there’s life, there’s hope. We’ve managed to fulfil two of our dreams today and one more dream is to make the quarter-finals.”

They will surely be without one of their most valuable loose forwards, Hale T-Pole, who was sent off for a forearm smash on Leo Lafaiali’i just after a high tackle on Dan Leo that gave Gavin Williams his fifth penalty goal and Samoa a sniff of recovery. When Toma Toke was sin-binned for a high tackle, Samoa had five minutes to retrieve a four-point deficit but never looked remotely like doing so.

Michael Jones, their coach, insisted that his tactics were appropriate and that Samoa remain in contention for the knockout phase. “We will go to Nantes to win without England getting a bonus point, we still believe we can do that,” he said. “It’s what we talked about in the changing shed immediately after the game. Our backs are against the wall and when that happens, we can be a scary team.”

But Samoa tried to play a game of tactical kicking and were smashed back by what Jones described as the best performance he has ever seen from Tonga. His players appeared to be thinking so hard about where to play that the pace left their game, despite the fact that Williams gave them a 12-3 advantage after a half-hour and Tonga lost yet another player, Epi Taione, to the sin-bin.

But Taione, late of Newcastle Falcons and Sale Sharks, returned to head the Tongan revival. They forced a stream of penalties after the interval and Pierre Hola took full advantage; ironically, the critical score came after Tonga mauled forward from a lineout, the phase in which they were dominated by their opponents.

Samoa were penalised for collapsing the maul, T-Pole won the close-range lineout and Tonga rolled forward again, Taione joining his forwards from centre to come up with the game’s only try.

Samoan composure vanished and Tonga showed shrewd appreciation of the situation by forming a ten-man maul to wind down the clock. Yesterday morning, as regular churchgoers, they held a private prayer meeting; perhaps England should consider the power of prayer, too.

Scorers: Samoa: Penalty goals: Williams 5 (6min, 21, 23, 29, 69). Tonga: Try: Taione (59). Conversion: Hola. Penalty goals: Hola 4 (3, 38, 47, 67).

Scoring sequence (Samoa first): 0-3, 3-3, 6-3, 9-3, 12-3, 12-6 (half-time), 12-9, 12-16, 12-19, 15-19.

Samoa: G Williams (rep: L Lui, 80); S Tagicakibau (rep: D Lemi, 57), E Seveali’i, S Mapusua, A Tuilagi; L Crichton, S So’oialo (rep: J Polu, 57); J Va’a, M Schwalger (rep: T Fuga, 59), C Johnston (rep: M Salanoa, 56-80), J Tekori (rep: L Lafaiali’i, 60), K Thompson, D Leo, U Ulia (rep: J Purdie, 60), S Sititi.

Tonga: V Lilo; T Tu’ifua, S Hufanga, E Taione (sin-bin, 28-38; rep: I Tupou, 72), J Vaka; P Hola, E Taufa (rep: S Tu’ipulotu, 43); S Tonga’uiha (rep: T Toke, 72, sin-bin, 75), E Taukafa (rep: A Lutui, 50), K Pulu, I Afeaki (rep: V Vaki, 56), P Hehea, H T-Pole (red card, 72), N Latu, F Maka (rep: Tonga’uiha, 80).

Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).

Attendance: 24,128.