"The backline is blunt and there seems little that the coach can do to remedy this unless some more intuitive players come through the system" Iain Morrison reports on Scotland's Rugby World Cup campaign

In a World Cup where every other match seemed to produce an upset the Scots came agonisingly short of producing their very own shock and making what would have been only their second ever semi-final appearance.

There are two ways of looking at Scotland's World Cup campaign, halted in its tracks when Argentina muscled them out of the tournament last Sunday evening.

The optimists will be delighted that the Six Nations whipping boys (one win, bottom of the table) were the last Celts left in the World Cup and what's more they will point out that coming within six points of the semis, after conceding seven points to a charge-down try, is no disgrace.

Others out there without rose tinted spectacles are probably still despairing that Frank Hadden's men had a golden opportunity of reaching the last four of this tournament, the best that they are ever likely to get, and they blew it.

Certainly the draw was kind to them with just Italy to beat to secure a quarterfinal place and go one better than Ireland and Wales. It is difficult to imagine Scotland progressing from Pool D (Ireland, France and Argentina) and the possibilities of the boys in blue beating Tonga or Fiji when the islanders had their tails up is not one you'd want to put your mortgage on either.

In the aftermath of the tournament Hadden was warning anyone and everyone that the Scots were two of three years away from being a highly competitive side.

If the coach were to ever contemplate criticising his men, and he'd rip his own tongue out before he did that, what he would actually have said is that Scotland are three of four players away from being a very competitive side.

Loosehead Gavin Kerr played his best Test ever against Los Pumas but the big man still does too little about the park which is hardly surprising since he is a tighhead playing on the loosehead side of the scrum.

As soon as Hadden thinks Gloucester's mobile ball-playing prop Ally Dickinson is up to the scrummaging at this level he will be thrown into the starting team.

The much-vaunted backrow was the biggest disappointment of the entire side. The White/Taylor/Hogg trio were rated Europe's best two years ago but now it is doubtful that they are even Scotland's best.

Skipper Jason White is far short of the heights he scaled pre-knee injury; never a natural athlete you have to wonder if he will ever re-discover the form that had people talking about him as a potential Lions captain.

Ally Hogg prefers open, running matches where his sublime handlings skills can be put to their best effect and given that every Scotland match was a dog fight perhaps Hadden should have started Kelly Brown who has more mongrel about him anyway.

Simon Taylor was almost anonymous for long periods of this competition and for one who is supposedly Scotland's more competitive player, at least in Hadden's world, its fair to say that he failed to live up to his billing.

His rivals for the number eight shirt Johnny Beattie and Dave Callum will both be rubbing their hands together and plotting the downfall of the two-time Lion.

But Hadden's biggest problem is the same one that has dogged him ever since he took over - the backline is blunt and there seems little that the coach can do to remedy the situation until or unless some more intuitive players come through the system. Scotland are short of a 12 and 13 and Dan Parks, for all his amazing kicking ability, remains hopelessly one dimensional.

If Hadden has his pick of players he would take Aaron Mauger or Luke McAllister as his inside centre, Juan Martin Hernandez as his playmaker and at thirteen he's pick France's Yannick Jauzion whose influence is under-appreciated by Bernard Laporte.

Sadly these men are not available but it will be interesting to see whether Hadden gives Scotland's young equivalents, men like the Edinburgh duo Nick de Luca and Ben Cairns, an early invite to his next training squad.

How much is the next World Cup (New Zealand 2011) going to influence his first Six Nations selection? Does he do what Andy Robinson so spectacularly failed to do and look ahead or will his natural caution mean that the Scotland coach opts for evolution over revolution and caution is Hadden's middle name?

It seems likely that coach will be offered a four year contract to take him up to RWC 2011 although many suspect that he eventually has his sights on a DOR/high-performance role.

If RWC'07 is ultimately a tale of lost opportunity it wasn't Hadden's tactics, preparation or team building that were at fault. Instead his players simply did not play to their potential against Argentina when, as things turned out, that would have been enough on the night.

It may be a long, long time before Scotland has a better chance of appearing in the final four of the big one but for now the mood is defiantly more upbeat that it has been for a while and that, at least, is some good news for the game in Scotland.