Samoa coach Viliamu Punivalu was left with mixed feelings following his side's early exit at the Wellington Sevens.
After finishing second in their pool, Samoa let a second half lead slip away in the Cup quarter final against England before losing to Canada in the Plate semis.
Injuries to Reupena Levasa and Lio Lolo didn't help proceedings but Punivalu says they will learn from the experience.
"We thought we could have closed off that England game and we would have made it to the semi final but the coaches can only do so much. It's the player that has to execute the plans and so forth but we could have won that game and we would have made it three semi finals in a row but we didn't and that is the reality of rugby. I have six players, six new ones, but heads up to them. I said to them keep your heads up. They should gives themselves a tap on the back and look at our mistakes and review ourselves and move on next week".
Samoa slip to sixth in the overall standings behind Australia.
