SCOTLAND go into their biggest game for four years this afternoon, knowing that if all goes well it will pale into insignificance compared to the match which will follow eight days later. Such is the nature of knockout sport: the magnitude of your involvement increases exponentially for as long as you stay alive in the competition.

And Scotland should stay alive today, when they take on Samoa in their final game in Pool B. They can draw and go through to the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup, where they will meet Wales or Australia at Twickenham a week tomorrow. They could even lose and progress, provided Japan do not go ahead of them on points by beating the United States tomorrow. But, needless to say, they are only interested in winning.

From the time the draw for the competition was made, the outcome of the pool has always seemed likely to come down to this meeting at St James’ Park, and so it has transpired for Scotland at least. For Samoa, there is little to play for.

The Pacific islanders were the second seeds for the pool, but now have only an outside chance of coming third, and thus ensuring automatic qualification for the next World Cup, four years from now in Japan. To do that they not only need to win today, they also have to rely on the United States getting the better of the Japanese tomorrow.

When Samoa struggled to see off the US on the opening weekend of competition, there was a ready explanation: no team wants to be firing on all cylinders from day one. But since then Stephen Betham’s team have lost - and lost badly - to both South Africa and Japan. They lost their shape and their discipline as well as the two games, having three men yellow-carded against the Japanese, in addition to having Alesana Tuilagi cited for foul play after that match.

Scotland, by contrast, while far from perfect, are in a good place. They withstood a strong first-half challenge from the Japanese to win their first game well, then shrugged off their own indifferent form in the early stages of the match against the US to win that one with a bonus point too. There were a lot of deficiencies in last Saturday’s defeat by South Africa, as there are in most defeats, but the Scotland team that was fielded in that game is significantly weaker than the one that starts today.

The all-Edinburgh front row of Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford and WP Nel is back, and will give Scotland the best chance of stopping Samoa from getting on to the front foot. John Hardie is back at openside after a two-match absence, and will tackle himself and his opponents into the ground.

Finn Russell is back to orchestrate the attack - Duncan Weir mixed up his game well when deputising at fly-half last week, but Russell’s virtuosity is far harder to defend against. And Mark Bennett is back at outside centre, to glide through the gaps that inevitably arise in a defence when it is under pressure.

There will be a lot of furious, unglamorous work to be done, of course, before the likes of Bennett can come into their own. “We have scored some tries, but there’s a big job to be done before that,” Duncan Hodge, the assistant coach, said yesterday. “That’s what happened in the first two games - when you’ve got a platform up front and you get good ball, then we have got some players that can score tries. There’s a big step before the try-scoring bit this week.”

There is, but it is a big step that Scotland should be able to take in their stride. They are fitter than they have ever been, thanks to the summer they have spent together in training camp. They can match Samoa’s physical strength, and they can get the better of their opponents technically.

The greatest concern - and it is a significant one - is their tendency to play far better in the second half of games. They recovered from a slow first 40 minutes against the USA to take command of the contest within two minutes of the restart, but they cannot presume that such a feat will be so straightforward against the Samoans. Betham said earlier this week that his team might have one big performance left in them, and they will be desperate to restore some pride this afternoon. If they cannot do that by going through to the last eight themselves, the next best thing is to deny Scotland that opportunity.

“We know what Samoa are going to bring,” Hodge said. “We’ve got to get our game right, but we also have to be adaptable to the way they’re going to play as well. With every game of international rugby you set your stuff out, but it doesn’t always pan out like that.”

Asked if it was fair to say Scotland had begun each game slowly, he continued: “Certainly the last two we have. Against Japan we started well for the first 20, and then, fair enough, they took over for the next 20 minutes.

“Possibly in those two games [against the US and South Africa] we haven’t adapted. Twenty minutes in against South Africa we hadn’t had any ball, we kicked a couple away. As coaches and as players we’re saying we should have adapted to that quicker.

“We should have recognised the problems and solved the issues. For us as a team that’s what it’s about - international rugby’s a tough place and we have to adapt slightly quicker.”

Still, they have adapted more quickly to circumstances than the Samoans, and they should have the intelligence and composure to do so again today. It could be tough for a while, and tight for 40 minutes or more, but Scotland should in the end be good enough to win by three or four scores.