RWC 2015: Now it’s Scotland’s turn to play the underdog role against Australia

The winger Sean Lamont has a warning for Australia about taking Scotland lightly (PA)

On Saturday at Newcastle, Scotland beat one of the World Cup’s underdogs, Samoa, 36-33. On Sunday at Twickenham, Scotland will be the team given scarcely a prayer when they play Australia in the quarter-finals.

Sean Lamont, Scotland wing and the game’s latest centurion, had a word to say about that: “Scotland relish being the underdogs. You can take us for granted all you want but you’ll get a bite on the arse.” Greig Laidlaw, his captain, put it a bit more decorously: “We will go in with some confidence. We believe, when we get it right, we’re a dangerous team.”

It’s the part about “getting it right” that’s the concern, particularly against Australia who are growing stronger week by week. Vern Cotter, Scotland’s head coach, is no fool. Proud though he was of the effort and composure of his players in difficult circumstances against Samoa, the statistics cannot be ignored.

Scotland missed 28 tackles against the Pacific islanders and conceded nine turnovers. Repeat that on Sunday and they will be on the low road home. On the credit side they have a decent set-piece game – though the scrum was not required much against Samoa; a good goalkicker in Laidlaw, who now leads the tournament’s points scorers; compared with other teams they are virtually injury-free; and now, like Samoa, they have absolutely nothing to lose.

But where is the blue-shirted back row which once struck terror into the hearts of opponents, a combination the equivalent of, say, Finlay Calder, John Jeffrey and Derek White? The arrival from New Zealand of John Hardie at open-side flanker has worked well enough for him to be man of the match in Newcastle but he is still virtually introducing himself to David Denton, his No 8, and Ryan Wilson.

Had Samoa not squandered so many chances, and donated Scotland so many points, Cotter’s squad would not be in the knockout phase. He will argue that, once Scotland got their game together in the second half, the pressure they imposed forced Samoan errors but that would be only half true and if Samoa can outscore the Scots four tries to three, what will Australia’s luminaries do?

They played Australia at the same last-eight stage in 2003 and lost convincingly. It is an act of faith to believe the same will not happen on Sunday.