BY IAIN COLLIN – Capital City Press
Scotland have reached the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup six times previously. Here is how they have got on:
1987
Scotland 3-30 New Zealand, Lancaster Park, Christchurch
After a 20-20 draw with France in their opening pool match at the inaugural World Cup, and subsequent high-scoring wins over Zimbabwe and Romania, Scotland faced hosts New Zealand in the knock-out stages and were swept aside by the All Blacks, who went on to become the first nation to lift the Webb Ellis Cup.
1991
Scotland 28-6 Western Samoa, Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Scotland defeated Japan, Zimbabwe and Ireland in their group to set up a home quarter-final against Western Samoa. Two tries from John Jeffrey and another from Tony Stanger helped them progress to the nation’s only semi-final to date. But, with the normally-reliable Gavin Hastings missing a straight-forward penalty, the Scots went down 9-6 to the Auld Enemy at Murrayfield.
1995
Scotland 30-48 New Zealand, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Following routine wins over Ivory Coast and Tonga, a last-gasp defeat to France in the final pool match sent Scotland into another quarter-final against the formidable All Blacks, who outscored the Scots by six tries to three to march on to the final, which they dramatically lost to hosts South Africa after extra-time.
1999
Scotland 18-30 New Zealand, Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Another Murrayfield quarter-final and another disappointing defeat to New Zealand. A 46-29 reverse to reigning champions South Africa in their opening pool match, followed by victories over Uruguay and Spain, meant Scotland had to first overcome Samoa 35-20 in a quarter-final play-off before taking on the All Blacks, who again proved too good.
2003
Scotland 16-33 Australia, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
A narrow win over Fiji rounded off a group phase that had included victories over Japan and the USA but a heavy 51-9 defeat to France. It was enough to clinch second spot but, despite Robbie Russell’s late try, the Scots were no match for hosts Australia, who eventually lost the final to England after extra-time.
2007
Scotland 13-19 Argentina, Stade de France, Paris
Scotland scraped into the knock-out stages via the boot of Chris Paterson with an 18-16 success against Italy to round off a pool that had begun with wins over Portugal and Romania but also included a 40-0 whitewash against the All Blacks. Chris Cusiter’s second-half try gave them hope in the quarter-final against Argentina but the Pumas held on in a war of attrition in St Etienne.
2011
Scotland failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in the history of the Rugby World Cup after narrow defeats to both Argentina and rivals England denied them progress past the pool phase in New Zealand.
@IainCollin
