SCOTLAND will qualify for the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup if they beat Samoa on Saturday - and, with a full week to prepare for that match, are in confident mood according to Glasgow hooker Fraser Brown.

The Warriors forward started the 34-16 defeat by South Africa at St James’ Park two days ago, and is in the running to keep his place for the next game, also at the Newcastle ground. First-choice No.2 Ross Ford failed a head-injury assessment after that match and will need to be given the all-clear before he can play in the Pool B decider.

Matt Scott, Richie Vernon, Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray also picked up injuries, with Glasgow centre Scott being a particular concern after reporting delayed concussion symptoms. John Hardie should be available again after missing out on the Springboks match, but head coach Vern Cotter faces a tough call over whether to bring back Finn Russell - who could also be fit again - or stick with Duncan Weir.

South Africa will win the pool provided they beat the United States on Wednesday, and in that case a win for Scotland over the Samoans will see them through as runners-up.

The pool winners will play the runners-up from Pool A, while the second-placed team will meet the winners from that pool. Australia and Wales meet on Saturday to decide the outcome.

After quicker turnarounds for their second and third pool games Brown is sure that Scotland will be ready to take on Samoa. “The big thing for us is it’s the first time we’ve had a full week between games,” he said.

“We had four days between Japan and the USA, six days until South Africa, so it’s the first time we can go through a proper post-match recovery and training. We can have a couple more training sessions this week and work more on shape and our set piece and how we want to approach the game.

“Our destiny is still in our own hands. We can still qualify for the quarter-finals. We have to win next weekend and then we’ve got a quarter-final.

“We approach it as we have done all the other games, knowing that we have to go out there and play well. We have to win, and if we win we’re in the quarter-finals.”

Scotland were 20-3 down to the Springboks at half-time, then for the third match in a row performed better after the break. Tommy Seymour scored his team’s only try of the game after Duncan Weir had launched a counter-attack, while South Africa’s tries came from Schalk Burger, JP Pietersen and Bryan Habana.

Brown is sure the team will do well against Samoa, provided they learn to start more positively. “The big thing for us is just believing from that first minute that if we go out and we keep hold of the ball and we impose ourselves in attack and defence, then we can score lots of points, we can put teams under pressure.

“We let ourselves down a little bit in the first half. Then all we said to ourselves at half-time was we need to pride ourself on our physicality, we need to front up and keep the ball.

“So I think our second-half performance was much better, but we just lost that physicality battle, especially in the first half. It was probably the most physical game I’ve had.”