SAMOA boss Steve Jackson defended red-carded wing Ed Fidow and the rest of his players after their ill-disciplined start to the Rugby World Cup.

Fidow was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the 34-0 defeat to Scotland at a sweltering Kobe Misaki Stadium on Monday.

The 26-year-old who joined Worcester Warriors from Provence this summer is now set to face a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday.

His dismissal came after he received a citing commissioner warning – a retrospective yellow card – for “punching or striking” in Samoa’s win over Russia last Tuesday.

Samoa have also been hit by three-match suspensions for Rey Lee-Lo and Motu Matu'u after the duo were cited for dangerous tackles against Russia.

Asked whether it would be fair to scrutinise Samoa’s discipline, Jackson said: “Yes and no.

“Every team plays to the letter of the law.

“I’m not going to talk about the two yellow cards we received but there have been others that have escaped sanctions that we haven’t.

“These are the decisions that get made by putting yourself in those positions.

“You are trying to stop two tries so there is going to be risk and reward, but we don’t intentionally go out there to get yellow cards and by no means do we coach or train that.”

Both of Fidow’s yellow cards came after conceding penalty tries. The first came on 56 minutes when Fidow went in at the side of a maul, preventing Fraser Brown from scoring.

Fidow was then brandished a second yellow by referee Pascal Gauzere on 74 minutes when he slid in knees first into Sean Maitland, stopping the Scotland wing from going over in the corner.

On Fidow’s yellow cards, Jackson said: “(For the first one) it’s a bit difficult coming in from the side but they were on their way to the try-line.

“(For the second) it’s hard when the player dives five metres out from the line so we have to make better decisions there and try to dislodge the ball a bit better in the way that we defended.

“But Scotland put themselves in those positions to score those tries and they probably deserved them anyway.”

The second penalty try secured Scotland the bonus point.

On Fidow’s second yellow, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: “Until I watched the video, I thought we have not scored here.

“Then when I saw the video I thought ‘Let’s hope the referee and the TMO have seen that it was an illegal tackle with the knees coming in’.

“That’s what turned out, so we were delighted to get the fourth try having had three tries with 20 minutes to go.”