Johnson: We must get sorted
England triumphed 35-22, but they trailed by two points with only 15 minutes remaining.
"We are not going to beat teams, making that number of mistakes. We need to get ourselves sorted out," said the England skipper.
"I am a little upset with some of the things that we did. We are not playing as well as we can. Samoa played fantastically well. We haven't faced a team that has played that well in the first 20 minutes for as long as I can remember."
Samoa coach John Boe said: "I have got tremendous pride in the players. We believed in ourselves, otherwise there would have been no point turning up.
"I said at half-time that we just had to stay smart, be patient in defence and keep moving the ball about, but in the last 20 minutes, we didn't quite have the petrol to keep going.
"England don't make mistakes. They are quite mechanical, they don't take risks and are very well-drilled from numbers one to 15. They will be very hard to beat."
His side took the lead after three minutes when former Newcastle and Richmond player Va'a slotted his penalty opportunity comfortably.
Four minutes later Samoa launched a blistering raid deep into England territory and after possession had been moved through several pairs of hands, Sititi crossed for an outstanding try.
The shockwaves could almost be felt around the stadium and when Va'a slotted a difficult conversion, England found themselves in the improbable position of being 10-0 adrift after conceding their first try of the competition.
Not even goalkicking star Wilkinson could make an impression, sending a 13th-minute penalty chance wide.
Wilkinson then found touch deep inside Samoa's 22, establishing a first really threatening attacking position and the result was immediate.
England's forwards rolled on from the resulting line-out a classic Leicester move and Tigers flanker Back touched down to claim a pressure-relieving try. Wilkinson brilliantly landed a touchline conversion and then booted a 35-metre penalty on 28 minutes to tie the score at 10-10.
English relief was almost tangible; yet Samoa responded in direct fashion, putting pressure on their opponents inside their own 22 and establishing an attacking platform from which they prospered.
England, somewhat predictably, conceded a penalty and Va'a came up trumps from 20 metres to put Samoa back in front with two further penalties.
But England were forced to content themselves with his second successful penalty, which meant they trailed 16-13 at half-time. Woodward resisted any temptation to make half-time changes.
Wilkinson launched the second half into action but immediately missed with a drop-goal attempt.
Samoa suffered an injury blow on 46 minutes when their Gloucester centre Terry Fanolua limped off, to be replaced by Dale Rasmussen, and Woodward's lack of patience was illustrated through a triple substitution.
Hooker Steve Thompson, prop Vickery and flanker Lewis Moody were the respective replacements for Mark Regan, Julian White and Joe Worsley.
England looked to make the most of a five-metre scrum, and an irresistible drive led to Samoan prop Jeremy Tomuli collapsing it. South African referee Jonathan Kaplan immediately awarded a penalty try, and England went ahead for the first time.
Wilkinson's conversion made it 20-16, but England still had much to do. Va'a prospered from Samoa's first real second-half attacking raid, slotting a 25-metre penalty to make it 20-19 and underline England's chronic state of uncertainty.
But the world-ranked number one team came up trumps when it mattered. It took a piece of Wilkinson magic 11 minutes from time to give them their first sign of breathing space.
His superbly-executed cross-kick caught the Samoan defence at sixes and sevens and Balshaw reacted quickest, catching and sprinting over to put England 28-22 in front.
Wilkinson missed the conversion. But England now went for the kill and Vickery pounced for his first international try six minutes from time, and Wilkinson converted.
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