Tonga have upset their more fancied South Pacific rivals Samoa 19-15 in a fiery encounter in Montpellier to win their second World Cup match in five days.

Tonga finished the game with just 13 players after Hale T Pole became the first player in the tournament to be sent off, then replacement Toma Toke was sin-binned.

They held on grimly to leapfrog defending champions England into second place in the Pool A standings after their 25-15 win over the United States on Wednesday.

Tonga's next game is against group leaders South Africa but their chances of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time will almost certainly come down to their final match against England, who must now beat Samoa and Tonga to guarantee a place in the knockout phase.

"We don't have as many resources as other teams, so it shows the talent we have in Tonga. To win two out of two is a fantastic achievement," Tonga captain Nili Latu told a news conference.

"It shows the tight group we have. But we have two more matches and they are going to test us, too."

Samoa went into Sunday's match expected to win and set up their big clash with England after thumping Tonga 50-3 earlier this year.

But they failed to reproduce that form despite opening up a nine-point lead in a dour first 30 minutes that failed to live up to the ferocity of the pre-match hakas.

"We were beaten by a team who were just much hungrier. It hurts to say that because we normally pride ourselves on our urgency and our desire and our passion," Samoan coach Michael Jones said.

"We were out-passioned today and out-muscled by a very, very good Tongan team."

The match suddenly came alive in the second half when Tongan centre Epeli Taione scored and the Tongans almost threw it all away with 10 minutes of madness.

Tonga had opened the scoring in the third minute with a penalty from their chunky flyhalf Pierre Hola but Samoa equalised three minutes later when Gavin Williams kicked the first of his five penalties.

The Samoan fullback kicked four in the first half hour of the match while Tonga were reduced to 14 men after the sin-binning of Taione, who was shown a yellow card for repeated infringements.

Tonga, who qualified for the World Cup through the repechage competition, started to take control late in the first half, reducing the deficit to 12-6 at the break when Hola banged over a penalty from in front.

Hola kicked his third penalty just after the re-start then spurned the chance of a fourth that would have levelled the scores when the Tongan skipper Nili Latu ordered him to kick for the sideline.

Tonga's decision paid off when they won the ensuing lineout and set up a rolling maul which ended with Taione crashing over for the only try of the match.

Hola landed the conversion from near the sideline then added a penalty to put his side 19-12 in front before their ill-discipline allowed Samoa back into the game.

Pole gifted Williams a penalty in front of the posts when he hit Daniel Leo with a swinging arm then was sent off a few minutes after by South African referee Jonathan Kaplan for striking another opponent.

Toke, who had been on the field for only two minutes, was also sin-binned, leaving Tonga two men down for the last five minutes and Samoa on the attack.

Samoa also turned down the chance of shooting for goal but, unlike the Tongans, their gamble backfired and they were unable to get the try they needed to win as Tonga celebrated their first win over their arch-rivals since 2000.

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