Rugby World Cup

Skipper Greig Laidlaw admits Scotland needed a calming word from head coach Vern Cotter as their World Cup quarterfinal hopes were left hanging in the balance.

Defeat against Samoa in Newcastle would have handed the initiative to Pool B rivals Japan -- who play the United States on Sunday -- but the Kiwi managed to settle his team down when they trailed 26-23 at the break and they eventually claimed a 36-33 win to set up a last-eight meeting with Australia at Twickenham next Sunday.

Laidlaw -- who scored a decisive touchdown 10 minutes from time to render a last-gasp Motu Matu'u score meaningless -- said: "We are delighted. It's a great feeling to be in the last eight. For me personally, to lead Scotland into the quarters is the highlight of my career.

"At times we were down in the game but it was credit to Vern and the coaches for the way they kept us calm at half-time.

"We got the scrum at the end and I turned to the boys and told them I wanted to take it if they would back me. The forwards knew they had them under pressure so we took the scrum and I managed to score off the back of it."

It took an hour for the Scots to finally nudge themselves in front and Laidlaw added: "We were not worried. Obviously we hadn't planned to be behind for so long. We were starved of the ball for a lot of the first half and as a defence, we just got too tight and they exposed us round the edges.

"But we stayed calm and that's credit to Vern and the coaches. We had a clear game plan and we just felt if we executed it we would win the game.

"That was the message at half-time -- don't panic and you'll grind them down."

Cotter admits the Samoans -- who will now have to qualify for the 2019 World Cup after missing out on third place in Pool B -- caught his side by surprise with their rampant display but he praised his players for digging deep to get the job done.

He said: "I'm really proud of the boys and the way they played, they were down at half-time but showed the character and spirit to come back. It showed just how much it means to them and I'm really happy for the group as they worked so hard to get there.

"That is phase one and we need to move to phase two, which is the knockouts, but I think there were some pretty good things out there.

"We took the scrum at the end and it paid off with Greig's try and that showed the confidence and spirit we have from this group.

"We saw things from Samoa which we hadn't seen from them so far and they were impressive. But we adapted and got through in the end."