Natasha Hunt
England World Cup winning scrum-half on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

You can see the ball glistening, it looks like it's slippery out there, all of the players look knackered.

It's really hot and it does have an impact on how you play with this ball.

Some good defensive play but Russia full-back Vasily Artemyev, who steps inside Alapati Leiua and clears to the Samoa 22.

Tusi Pusi can't get as good a clearance, which gives Russia a line-out on the 10 metre line.

Natasha Hunt
England World Cup winning scrum-half on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Lovely build-up play from Samoa for that score - they are so powerful

That was a brilliant pass from Nanai-Williams and what a finish from Leiua.

Image source, Opta

Here's a picture of how the first quarter of the game has unfolded in Kumagaya.

Samoa just about deserve their narrow lead.

Samoa spill the restart, giving Russia the ball back.

Then there's an offside as Samoa defend, which gives the Bears a very kickable penalty.

Fly-half Yuri Kushnarev makes no mistake and gets the Russians on the scoreboard.

Russia haven't shown too much of a hangover from their opening night defeat by Japan.

But hooker Stanislav Selskii has been forced off, with Evgeny Matveev replacing him.

No, they can't.

Horrid error from the line-out, as Motu Matu'u's throw is not straight.

That was pretty obvious for the officials to spot.

Russia get a penalty from the resulting scrum as the Samoa front row stands up.

A couple of good line breaks sees the Samoans gain a lot of territory,

First Apalpati Leiu breaks a couple of tackles before Ed Fidow makes progress.

They get an advantage for offside and then kick to the corner.

Can they get the first try of the game?

There are plenty of Russian faces in the crowd in Kumagaya.

Bears fans are still waiting for their country to win their first game at the Rugby World Cup.

The Russians have qualified for a second time, having lost all four of their pool games in 2011.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Getty Images

Good attacking ball from Samoa as they switch to the blindside and it looks like Tim Nanai-Williams might set Ed Fidow away in the corner.

But Fidow can't gather the ball and, with a rueful smile, knocks on.

That was a chance for the Pacific Islanders.

The Russians will have a scrum once Bears flanker Tagir Gadzhiev gets some treatment for a bloody nose.

Image source, Reuters

Samoa spread the ball to the left and Ed Fidow has a bit of space to run down the wing.

He kicks ahead but a Russian is offisde, and Tusi Pisi kicks a penalty from halfway.

Samoa have a line-out just outside the Bears 22.

The first scrum goes to Samoa, just inside their own 22.

The Samoan pack has the weight advantage, by about 60 kilos.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia have enjoyed plenty of the ball in the early stages, but are struggling to get through the Samoa defence.

Vasily Dorofeev kicks ahead and Tim Nanai-Williams gathers on his own 22, but then offloads in the tackle and gives the ball away.

The Samoans scramble back and manage to push Russian winger Kirill Golosnitskiy into touch.

Natasha Hunt
England World Cup winning scrum-half on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

The Japanese fans are loving these sort of matches, hopefully we get a try scoring fest and a real good battle.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia gather the kick-off but the clearing kick is charged down, giving the Russians a defensive line-out on their own 22.

But Chris Vui disrupts the jumper, and the Bears are able to clear past half-way via a penalty.

Here we go!

Samoa full-back Tim nanai-Williams kick the game off in Japan.

Russia are in their predominantly red change strip, with Samoa in their traditional blue shirts.

Frenchman Romain Poite is the referee today.

Natasha Hunt
England World Cup winning scrum-half on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Russia have had the beauty of running out at this World Cup, they will be settled, they know what they need to work on and they have had time to recoup - they'll have a slight upper hand.

Potentially we'll see some nerves from Samoa, this opening quarter will be really exciting.

After the national anthems, Samoa are now lining up for the Siva Tau.

We'll kick-off a couple of minutes late as a result.

Image source, Reuters

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