Scotland forward Alasdair Strokosch is determined to avoid history repeating itself during Saturday’s crunch World Cup clash against Samoa.
Scotland are looking to maintain a top-two spot in Pool B when they play Samoa in Newcastle on Saturday and end Japan’s hopes of overtaking Vern Cotter’s side during their final group game against the United States on Sunday.
Scotland were two minutes away from the quarter-finals in 2011 before Chris Ashton notched a late try for England in Auckland which sent Strokosch and his team-mates out of the tournament before the knockout phase for the first time following a 16-12 defeat.
Scotland had earlier lost 13-12 to Argentina so Strokosch knows all about the fine margins in the tournament.
And he is focused on ensuring Scotland come out on top no matter what when they return to action at St James’ Park on Saturday following their defeat by South Africa at the weekend.
The back-row forward told scotlandteam.com: “I’m not really concerned how we do it, just as long as we do it. Whether it’s by one point or by 20 points, it doesn’t really matter.
“It’s a knockout game for us. There’s nothing else to it except putting everything into winning the game.”
Strokosch also suffered defeat by Samoa in June 2013 when his side became the first Scots to lose to the Pacific island nation, going down 27-17 in a four-nation tournament in South Africa.
The 32-year-old said: “I played that day and I can remember it pretty well.
“The only thing that really let us down was that we just didn’t front up to Samoa’s physicality and that’s kind of what cost us.”