By Megan Armitage at the Eco-Power Stadium

Junior Paulo praised his team for their response to adversity as Samoa bounced back from a disappointing opening round to claim their biggest ever win against Greece.

Paulo was among 10 Samoa try scorers in their 72-4 victory at the Eco-Power Stadium, the perfect response to the 60-6 defeat against England last weekend.

READ MORE: Match report - Luai shines as Samoa bounce back

The skipper knows his side still have several gears to move through but believes this performance will give them plenty of confidence going into the crunch game with France.

Some impressive efforts tonight!

Samoa showed just what they're capable of tonight, before Greece scored another blinder to add to their Try of the Tournament tally.#RLWC2021 | #SAMGRE pic.twitter.com/gDsAnDvTls
— Rugby League World Cup 2021 (@RLWC2021) October 23, 2022

"I'm pretty pleased getting the win but there's still plenty of areas to improve on,” said Paulo, who scored his side’s second try just four minutes in.

"We faced the facts that it was a pretty sour day after last week but how the boys responded that next day, and the speed we got to review it and move on, was great.

"The World Cup is a campaign and we've got to move onto the next week as fast as we can.

"The easy way was to sit and worry about why we lost but we transitioned well. You could see that in that performance tonight.”

Samoa are untouchable tonight

Jarome Luai finishes a great passing move and slides over to extend Samoa's lead#RLWC2021 | #SAMGRE | @BBCSport pic.twitter.com/Mpq25ZYVOQ
— Rugby League World Cup 2021 (@RLWC2021) October 23, 2022

Samoa ran in 13 tries in all, Tim Lafai, Chanel Harris-Tavita and Danny Levi all notching doubles with Jarome Luai pulling the strings.

READ MORE: Match in Pictures - Samoa 72-4 Greece

Following their humbling defeat at St James’ Park, several Samoa players took to social media to ask their country for forgiveness and Paulo hopes this display will be the first step in this group of players inspiring the next generation back home.

He said: "If we can be role models, that's the biggest thing for us.

"We know we're not just putting on the jersey and representing ourselves, you want to be able to inspire people to chase dreams, whether that's in footy or not.

"We go away for 80 minutes and bash each other but this is a world stage and World Cup. If we can impact one, two or 100 kids, that's the bigger achievement for us."

Steve Georgallis was impressed with his team's defensive efforts against star-studded opposition, teenager Siteni Taukamo coming to the fore with a string of try-saving tackles.

Lachlan Ilias provided the highlight of Greece’s night, chipping the ball over the Samoan defence and received the offload from Jake Kambos for their sole try, and Georgallis stressed the positives from his side’s display.

He said: "We talked about it at half time and that first 20-minute period of the second half was probably our best of the game.

"We talked about how defensively we had to be on but they were just too good a team not to capitalise.

"I don't think today's score is a true reflection of the effort we put in. There were periods in that game where we got into that arm wrestle.

"There's two ways you can look at it, we make the tackle or we let them run by, we didn't let anyone run by today.

"We turned up and got back there to make those tackles so I can't fault their effort. Our goal is to improve every week and enjoy all the World Cup has to offer.

"I mean, that shot of the bar in Athens when we scored the first try last week, you can't buy that stuff. It's priceless."

The Rugby League World Cup promises to be the biggest, best and most inclusive event in the sport’s 127-year history with men’s, women’s and wheelchair teams competing in 61 games across 21 venues throughout England. Tickets are available via rlwc2021.com/tickets