Wales held on for an unconvincing victory on Friday by edging Samoa 17-13 at the Millennium Stadium.

Leigh Halfpenny scored a first-half try while five-eighth Dan Biggar added 12 points with the boot before Samoa hit back through Seilala Mapasua in the second half.

Fa'atonu Fili also kicked two penalties and the conversion but Gavin Williams missed a late penalty as Samoa let the chance to claim another famous victory over Wales in Cardiff slip through their fingers.

Wales led 11-6 at half-time though it was Samoa who ended the first half the stronger of the two.

"We put ourselves under pressure when we gave them an intercept try. Our finishing wasn't good enough, we should have finished the game off much earlier," said Wales coach Warren Gatland.

"We kicked away too much quality ball and there was always a danger we could lose at the end."

Samoa captain George Stowers was proud of his side's effort, with the squad having only come together three days before the match.

"I am really proud. We didn't help ourselves being one man down on two occasions and that is something we have to work on, but we came back and we really worked hard in our defence for 80 minutes."

In their first international rugby match since more than 200 people were killed in Samoa and American Samoa by a tsunami two months ago, the Pacific islanders were eager to give their nation a lift.

A second penalty by Fili brought Samoa to within a try of their hosts who had, unsurprisingly, taken an early lead through Biggar and Halfpenny.

Wales were by far the more match-ready, having played New Zealand just six days earlier, and that sharpness told in the opening exchanges.

Dwayne Peel darted through the midfield in just the second minute and a late tackle by Samoa fullback Lolo Lui saw Biggar convert the opening points through a penalty.

Fili levelled the scores within a minute but Biggar produced another accurate kick, this time across field for wing Halfpenny to race onto and dive over, despite the challenge of David Lemi on the line.

Biggar missed the conversion but added a second penalty on 17 minutes and Wales were seemingly comfortable at 11-3 in front of a buoyant 58,907 crowd.

However Samoa are no strangers to springing surprises, following shock victories in Cardiff at the 1991 and 1999 Rugby World Cups, and gradually found their way back into the game.

Fili missed a penalty on 33 minutes but converted a further attempt moments later to reduce the deficit to five points before half-time.

Wales were well-aware of the danger and the need to stay out of reach of another shock result so turned to Halfpenny to re-establish the lead, converting a penalty just a yard off the half-way line, two minutes into the second-half.

Wales lost Tom Shanklin to injury on 49 minutes but Samoa were reduced in numbers two minutes later when No.8 Henry Tuilagi was shown the yellow card by Irish referee Peter Fitzgibbon for his team's repeated infringements.

Biggar swept over the resulting penalty for 17-6 but Wales failed to capitalise on the extra man despite promising breaks by James Hook and Tom James.

Instead it was Samoa who crossed the line next when centre Mapasua intercepted Biggar's pass that was intended for James and ran almost 80 yards to touch down under the posts. Fili converted to reduce Wales' lead to 17-13 after 62 minutes.

With victory in their sights, Samoa had further chances to score but Mapasua's kick rolled out of play before Uale Mai could reach it and fellow centre Gavin Williams then missed a penalty in front of the posts, with Fili by then on the replacements bench.

Tuilagi went close late on but Wales held out for the victory.

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