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Scotland are looking to book a place in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals this weekend. A win over Samoa will see them qualify for the knockouts. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 12:30am (AEDT).
The Scots head to St James’ Park hoping that the oldest football stadium in north-east England will be kinder to them than it has been to regular football hosts Newcastle United this season. They face a Samoa side with nothing to lose after disappointing losses to South Africa and Japan.
Scotland have won three out of four games at this year’s tournament with their only loss coming to South Africa last weekend. While they have won all the games they were expected to win, they have yet to put together a full 80-minute performance.
With the quarter-finals looming, Vern Cotter is looking to address his side’s slow starts starting with Saturday.
“We’ve looked at getting our hands on the ball early,” Cotter said.
“We know that we’ll have to improve and we’re looking for a much better performance in the contact area. We learnt a lot from the South Africa game.
“It’s a game that we’ve worked ourselves to get to and we know what it means. We’re enjoying the position we are in and we want to put in a good performance this weekend.”
Scotland have made seven changes to the side that lost to south Africa as Finn Russell, Mark Bennett and John Hardie all return to the starting side. Full-back Stuart Hogg, hooker Ross Ford and winger Sean Maitland have all recovered from niggling injuries and have been cleared to play.
Meanwhile, for Samoa, coach Stephen Betham has also made seven changes following his side’s loss to Japan last weekend. Samoa will be without powerful winger Alesana Tuilagi, who received a five-week suspension for what was deemed a knee to an opponent during the loss to Japan. Northampton halfback Kahn Fotuali’i is set to captain the side in what could be the 33-year-old’s last World Cup game.
Betham said that Samoa need to restore some national pride on Saturday and that while the World Cup has been a disappointment, they are still capable of causing an upset on any given day.
“At the moment we’ve got a country that’s feeling a bit sad,” said Betham.
“It’s important for us not just to play for the people back home, but for ourselves. We’ve got a lot of talent but we haven’t shown anything of it all tournament.
“We can be dangerous on any day but we have to show up, not just on the field but off it. The motivation is there for us.”
Join The Roar from 12:30am (AEDT) for the live scores and commentary.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.