Watch USA Vs. Samoa Rugby World Cup Match Live Online: Crucial Opener For Both Teams, Streaming

Watch the USA Eagles kick off their 2015 Rugby World Cup campaign live online with a crucial game against heavily favored Samoa — a game that can only be called a must-win for both teams if either hopes to finish second in Pool B and qualify for the quarterfinals. With the pool likely to be topped by World Third-Ranked South Africa, the other four nations in the group must battle it out for second place in order to proceed to the knockout phase of this eighth edition of the Rugby World Cup.

While Samoa is expected to battle neck-and-neck with Scotland for that coveted second position, the USA and — rounding out the five-team group — Japan face an uphill battle to say the least and are looking mainly to put on solid showings in every game and emerge from the World Cup with heads high, if empty-handed.

To find out how to watch the USA Eagles vs. Samoa 2015 Rugby World Cup match live online, see the streaming information in the final paragraph of this article. The match is set to begin at noon British Summer Time at 30,750-seat Brighton Community Stadium, just outside of Brighton & Hove, England, on Sunday, September 20.

For United States viewers, the game will start at 7 a.m. Eastern Time, 4 a.m. Pacific.

The last time USA faced Samoa was on July 18 in the opener of the Pacific Nations Cup in San Jose, California. Samoa won that game 21-16, holding back a second-half comeback from the Eagles, who outscored Samoa 13-0 in those final 40 minutes.

Samoa Assistant Coach Alama Ieremia offered assurances that his team was not looking past the USA to an inevitable showdown with Scotland.

“The USA are our only focus this week,” he said. “If we have a good start there, then we will worry about the rest of the pool. But I’m very impressed by the USA at the moment. They are certainly a team we are not going to under-estimate. We’ve just got make sure we stay focused on the task.”

To watch the crucial Pool B USA vs. Samoa 2015 Rugby World Cup match live online, use the Universal Sports live stream available at this link. Login credentials from a cable or satellite TV provider that carries the Universal Sports network will be required. As an alternative, rugby fans can use the Sling TV international sports package, which includes Universal Sports and offers a one-month free trial on its $10 per month subscription, accessible at this link. Finally, fans can go to this link to subscribe to Universal Sports coverage of all 48 matches for $199.99 — or $27.95 per match on an individual pay-per-view online basis.

[Image: Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images]