SCOTLAND’S QUARTER-FINAL RECORD IN WORLD CUPS

1987 SCOTLAND 3 NEW ZEALAND 30 Lancaster Park, Christchurch

After a 20-20 draw with France in their opening pool match at the inaugural World Cup, and subsequent highscoring 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 WESTERN SAMOA 6 Murrayfield

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 straightforward penalty, the Scots went down 9-6 to the Auld Enemy at Murrayfield.

1995 SCOTLAND 30 NEW ZEALAND 48 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 NEW ZEALAND 30 Murrayfield

Another Murrayfield quarterfinal 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 AUSTRALIA 33 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 in the final to England after extra-time.

2007 SCOTLAND 13 ARGENTINA 19 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 Paris.