Fiji dominated the opening 10 minutes at the Stade Jean Bouin, with tries from Isake Katonibau, Leone Nakarawa and Jerry Tuwai putting Ben Ryan's side 21-0 up with half-time looming.

Belgium Tuatagaloa clawed one back for Samoa, before Tuwai added another to make it 26-7 at the break. 

Despite the sizeable deficit, Samoa came out fighting after the interval as two tries from Mealoi closed the gap to 26-17 with just over four minutes on the clock.

Siaosi Asofolau kept the momentum going for Samoa and in the dying seconds, captain Faalemiga Selesele sealed a historic win.

Victory ensures Samoa their first Cup success since 2012, when they triumphed in Dubai, and will no doubt provide a confidence boost heading into the Olympic repechage qualifier in Monaco on June 18 and 19.

Samoa head coach Damian McGrath described it as a "huge surprise" given that Fiji beat his side 42-5 yesterday. 

"We wanted to get some pride back and we did that," he said. 

"At half-time, I said if we get the first score we can get back into this.

"Self-belief is a huge thing, and they believed in themselves."

Samoa had earlier beaten South Africa 21-10 in the quarter-finals before defeating Argentina 14-12 in the last four. 

Fiji, who won 17-15 against Australia in the last eight and 22-5 against France in the semi-finals, can take solace from the fact they lead the 2015-16 series standings by 14 points ahead of South Africa with just one round left in London next weekend.

The third-place play-off saw hosts France beat Argentina 26-17 thanks to two tries from Virimi Vakatawa, who was named in the Dream Team for Paris, and scores from Julien Candelon and Jean Baptiste Mazoue.

South Africa bounced back from their quarter-final loss against Samoa to beat Australia 17-7 in the plate final.

Scotland overcame England 28-10 to claim their third bowl of the series, while Portugal won the shield with a 24-19 win against Wales.