- The nations have met only once in a World Cup qualifier, at Murrayfield in 1998, the hosts romping to victory by 85-11
- Scotland need six tries to reach a total of 100 in World Cups nScotland have won three, drawn one and lost one of their opening matches at World Cups
- Their first opening match in New Zealand in 1987, against France, ended 20-20 draw - the only draw in the history of the event
- They have scored an average of 43.4 points in their opening matches and have never scored fewer than 32 points in opening matches they have won
- Their opening match 89-0 win against Cote D'Ivoire in South Africa in 1995 is their biggest World Cup total and their second biggest in all internationals. Only the 100 points at McDiarmid Park against Japan in 2004 is larger
- The 13 tries they scored in that match against Cote D'Ivoire is a World Cup record for Scotland
- Gavin Hastings had a personal haul of 44 points in that match, a record for Scotland in all internationals
- Portugal qualified for their first World Cup in March this year after beating Uruguay with an aggregate score of 24-23 over two legs in Lisbon and Montevideo. They had earlier eliminated Russia and Morocco
- Their only wins against other 2007 tournament participants since 2003 have both been against Georgia in the European Nations Cup
- Their heaviest defeat in that time came against pool rivals Italy - 83-0 in L'Aquilla last year
- Their biggest victory since 2003 was a 52-14 win over the Ukraine 15 months ago
- Portugal have seven foreign-born players in their squad: two Argentines, two Frenchmen, an American, a Samoan and a Brazilian. Their coach, Tomaz Morais, hails from Angola
- The Portugal squad contains the Mateus twins David and Diogo, one of three sets in the competition. The others are Argentina's Felipe and Manuel Contepomi and Canada's Dan and Mike Pletch
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