Scotland: Metcalfe; Murray, Mayer, McLaren, Logan; Townsend, Armstrong (capt); Smith, Bulloch, Graham, Murray, Weir, Leslie, Pountney, Simpson. Replacements used: Mather, Hodge, Burnell, Russell.

Samoa: Leaega; Lima, Vaega, Fanolua, Tuigamala; Bachop, So'oialo; Reidy, Leota, Asi, Falaniko, Tone, Sititi, Glendinning, Lam (capt). Replacements used: Ta'ala, Ale, Va'a. Attendance; 20,000.

Referee: D McHugh (Ireland).

It was effective rather than pretty - but whether the watching All Blacks were impressed is open to doubt. Scotland advanced to the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a thoroughly professional display which proved too much for Samoa.

However, until winger Cammie Murray sprinted half the length of the field seven minutes from time to score the home side's third try, the contest had failed to ease the pain of a freezing Edinburgh day. The surprise was that Murray's hands had not frozen before he received Gregor Townsend's long pass such was the lack of width offered by the Scotland attack.

It's a style of play which won't defeat New Zealand at the same venue on Sunday as Scotland bid to repeat their semi-final appearance of 1991, but it proved wily coach Jim Telfer still knows the way to victory.

Scotland took the lead after what must rank as one of the most boring passages of play the famous stadium had ever witnessed. The home side won a scrum a yard from the Samoan line and attempted to heave their way over. As the Scottish pack pushed, the visitors buckled. Prop Samuela Ali was under intense pressure but, with the scrum turning beyond 90 degrees, Irish referee David McHugh kept ordering it to be reset - half a dozen times. A couple of injury stoppages and a Scotland penalty - which Armstrong elected to turn into a scrum - kept play in the same space for nearly seven minutes before McHugh bowed to the inevitable and awarded a penalty-try.

As an exercise in exposing Samoan vulnerability in the forwards, the tactic proved successful. But it was mind-numbing for the few fans who had paid to see it. After such a dismal opening, the game could only get better.

Out-half Gregor Townsend opted to launch deep punishing kicks downfield instead of opening the ball out along the back line, although bullocking centre James McLaren did blast through the visitors' defence on two occasions when the opportunity came his way.

Budge Pountney had been described as a scavanger by Northampton team-mate Pat Lam in the build-up to the contest and the Scotland flanker lived up to his billing, constantly spoiling Samoan possession and breaking a succession of tackles with ball in hand.

It was Pountney who conceded the penalty from which full back Silao Leaega reduced the arrears after 25 minutes, but it was his only mistake of an outstanding first half.

Martin Leslie had been completely overshadowed by his back-row colleague, but typically, the Kiwi-born star wasn't out of the action for long, snaffling possession at the base of a ruck and burrowing his way over for Scotland's second try. Leaega kept his side in the hunt with his second penalty in first-half injurytime, but the visitors sensed they had reached the point of no return.

They came out after the interval determined to swing the ball wide and attack at every opportunity. Tuigamala, Lam and Leaega all charged towards the line - and were all dumped by full back Glenn Metcalfe.

His tackle on Lam was stunning, standing up to a bigger, stronger opponent racing straight at him at top speed, before flattening him with a combination of arms, legs and chest.

Three morale-sapping penalties from Logan swept Scotland into a clear lead. And on the hour, Townsend landed a 25-metre drop goal. With the game won, Scotland reverted to the expansive style which has earned them so many friends in the rugby world - and promptly conceded a try.

Tuigamala made the initial break, centre partners To'o Vaega and Terry Fanolua linked up and Semo Sititi took the final pass to cruise over. Leaega converted, but Scotland replied immediately, Logan landing his fifth penalty.

Samoa had nothing more to offer and Murray's superb try brought another sparse crowd briefly to life before Brian Lima wrapped up the scoring with his own effort in injury-time.

Telfer opted to remove his more influential players as the game meandered to a close, mindful of the daunting task awaiting them on Sunday evening.

He was happy with the way his game-plan worked, however. "Those two guys (Lam and Tuigamala) are Samoa's best players so we decided to gang up on them, just as we did to Scott Gibbs and Scott Quinnell when we played Wales in the Five Nations," said Telfer. "We haven't thought too much about the All Blacks, but they are obviously a better side than Samoa and we will have to improve two or three steps to beat them."