'Scotland no longer happy with being plucky losers'

Head coach Bryan Easson says Scotland have moved beyond being gallant losers after they came up short in their bid to retain the WXV2 title.

The Scots had to beat Australia in their final match in Cape Town to claim the title but lost 31-22 to the Wallaroos.

Easson was proud of the way his team battled back from 21-0 down to work their way back into the game, but says that comeback should not mask the disappointment of losing.

"Two, three years ago we probably would have succumbed to a big scoreline against us," Easson told the Scotland Rugby Podcast.

"It is heartening they have got that spirit, they have got that fight, they have got that desire to get back in the game.

"But that's not the standard we expect. We don't want to be chasing games and then be proud of a defeat. The days of that have gone.

"We now want to push to be as high up in the world rankings as possible.

"We want to make sure we're at the knockout stages of the World Cup and that's the standards we set ourselves and the standards we go after on a day-to-day basis."

Scotland confirmed their place in next year's Rugby World Cup in England, with the tournament draw taking place on Thursday.

"The big goal for us was to be top eight [in the world rankings]," Easson added.

"That meant we know that we'll get one of New Zealand, England, Canada or France.

"We then know that within the next pot you've got Wales, you've got USA, South Africa and Japan, and then you've got Spain, Samoa, Fiji and Brazil.

"So it's going to be an exciting draw for us because there will be opportunity for us to really have a go at it and get to, we believe, the knockout stages.

"The top pot you could take anybody - it doesn't matter who you get in there, it's going to be a tough shift against those teams.

"But we know that any team we get, we'll give them a good game because that's what our target is and that's what we're going for."