IS it possible to put a smile back on the face of a nation? It often seems that rugby and football are two different planets co-existing side by side in Scottish society and never the twain shall meet.

Vern Cotter's side had enough pressure riding on them as they attempted to reach the World Cup quarter finals without being suddenly saddled with compensating for the shortcomings of Gordon Strachan's side in the running for Euro 2016 but this they duly did, even if it was all achieved in rather scruffy, unconvincing manner. Scotland were outscored four tries to three by these game Samoans and were left doing the rugby equivalent of taking the ball to the corner flag but when it gets to this stage rugby, like football, is all about getting over the line. Four years after they lost a heartbreaker to England to crash out at the group stages, the Scots live on to tackle the last eight at Twickenham on Sunday, but it is worth pointing out that for many of the visitors to Hampden on Thursday night Scotland could probably progress through another couple of rounds then rout the All Blacks in the final at Twickenham at the end of the month and it still wouldn't cause a flicker.

In truth, though, perhaps these two disciplines are more closer intertwined than both like to admit, particularly in these days of advanced professionalism. Stuart Hogg, a distant relative of George Best - that sometime drinking buddy of French rugby legend Jean-Pierre Rives - had mentioned that he and skipper Greig Laidlaw had watched the Scotland football match over a cup of tea earlier this week. Hogg, incidentally, was also warned by last week's match official Nigel Owens for a football-style dive so blatant that the referee told him to "dive like that again and you can come back here in two weeks' time and play" but Laidlaw played like a man inspired here. While the Scotland captain tugged a couple of penalties wide, he was sure footed enough to be responsible for 26 of Scotland's 36 points, and his call to go for the scrum under the posts which led to his clinching try was like Chris Robshaw in reverse.

Anyway, for much of this match, things were all too similar to events in Mount Florida on Thursday night. Samoa, it had been widely assumed, would come into this one after a week of relaxing - ie. drinking - while Scotland were at full gas, with Sean Maitland - a room mate of Samoan captain and scrum half Kahn Fotu'ali in Christchurch when the pair were teammates at Crusaders - John Hardie, Finn Russell, Mark Bennett and Ross Ford all passed fit to play. Big Richie Gray trundled out early on the occasion of this 50th cap. Late substitute Sean Lamont celebrated his 100th.

Samoa hadn't read the script. The Pacific islanders, 27-17 winners against the Scots on the last meeting between the two sides in Durban in 2013, spun the ball wide and Scotland simply didn't get started. This was deja vu all over again, considering Cotter had spent all week chiding his team for being reactive rather than pro-active in the openings of matches.

The excellently-named Samoan prop Census Johnston had a unanimous victory over WP Nel in one early contact, and the Pacific islanders raced into a 10-3 lead when fly half Tusi Pisi had danced along the touchline to touch down in the corner. The Samoan abandon could also be to their detriment. Attempting to run the ball out from under their posts, one errant pass led to a 50/50 between Paul Perez and Tommy Seymour. The deflection favoured the Nashville-born Scot, who claimed the ball before it fell to earth and touched down for his third try of the tournament.

Scottish defensive assigments, normally so assured under Cotter, were suddenly in disarray, in a match which started to resemble a Sevens contest. Tusi Pisi fed in debutant Manu Leiataua for try number two and when Reynold Lee-Lo cantered in far too easily on the left alarm bells were ringing. It could have been significantly worse had referee Jaco Peyper decided that Ryan Wilson's stamp on a prone defender was worthy of a red rather than yellow, or had a fourth Samoan try, by prop Sakaria Taulafao, not been taken off the board for a tug on Laidlaw.

In the midst of this maelstrom, Scotland ignored the numerical disadvantage to produced a fine try from a rolling maul, backs piling in as Hardie controlled the chaos to notch his second try of the World Cup. They patched themselves up and hoped to the Samoan storm would subside after the break.

The forecast came true. Instead, the penalties started raining in on Samoa. Having declined to kick for goal three times, Laidlaw determined it was time to get the scoreboard moving and finally Scotland had a lead. It wasn't until the 74th minute, though, that Scotland had breathing space. Having bravely opted for a scrum rather than a chip shot beneath the posts, St James' Park exhaled in relief when he stretched his 5ft 9in frame to the full to ground the ball after a lightning burst of pace.

Typically for all Scottish sides in all sports some late drama ensued. Replacement hooker Motu Matu'u touched down to cut the arrears to three, but Scotland held on, leaving England the only home nation without a last eight representative - at their own tournament. Maybe not a smile, but that fact alone was enough last night to put a smirk back on the face of the nation.