Tonga showed they could be contenders for a place in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup as they beat Samoa in Montpellier.

South Africa coach Jake White has predicted Samoa will cause a shock by beating England when the teams meet in Nantes on Saturday, but the Samoan players suffered their second defeat of the tournament and failed to score a single try against a team they were expected to beat.

Both teams struggled to maintain their discipline and Tonga had two players sent to the sin bin and another sent off during the game.

In fact, they finished the match with only 13 players on the field as Hale T-Pole was shown the first red card of the tournament for throwing a punch with eight minutes left and Toma Toke was shown the yellow card in the closing stages for a high tackle.

The only try of the match came in the second half when Tonga pulled off an excellent lineout routine and 'Epeli Taione burst through, sealing the team's second victory in this year's tournament.

The poor discipline meant the teams traded penalties in the first half and Samoa led 12-6 at the break, however, Pierre Hola kicked two penalties and a conversion in the second half to add to Taione's penalty, while Gavin Williams only kicked three points for Samoa.

Tonga's victory means they move up to second place in group A, ahead of England.