An unwanted treble

Danny Russell (no 9) tries to stop a Samoan charge

After three straight defeats, Scotland captain Danny Russell tells BBC Sport Online of his disappointment at their World Cup exit and hopes his own international story is not yet over.

The boys are devastated. They wanted to win and play Australia in the quarter-finals. It would have been the chance of a lifetime.

But we couldn't come up with the win we needed against Samoa.

We simply didn't play well enough in any of our three games, although we knew if we won our last game by two points we would have sneaked through to the knockout stages.

We just seemed to drop the ball whenever we came near to scoring

  Danny Russell

That said, I think it was the best Samoa have performed in the tournament so far. In the first half, they played some good football.

They are a side that you have to slow down. If you let them play, they will punish you with their quick handling and fast breaks.

They did that in the first half and took control.

After the interval, my boys showed great dedication to get themselves back in the game.

If the Kangeroos come over here next year, I hope we will get to play them

  Danny Russell

But then a couple of things didn't go our way. It had nothing to do with the referee, we just made mistakes.

If the ball had stuck when we needed it to, we would maybe have been celebrating a famous victory. We just seemed to drop the ball whenever we came near to scoring.

It's been an important tournament for Scotland. It has certainly meant a lot for the players from Australia to find out where their parents or grandparents came from.

Samoa were simply too strong for the Scots

If anyone says the boys from Down Under haven't had pride in the jersey, I don't agree. They really put it in.

But we can't stop there. The key now is bring the young kids through, by introducing the sport to them when they are at school.

They already know all about union, and there's not much difference between the codes.

Scotland also need to organise some regular international fixtures.

If the Kangeroos come over here next year, I hope we will get to play them.

I'd like to be still involved. I've been involved for a years now and I'd like to continue that. I've still go a lot of rugby left in me.