Rugby: Ross Rennie admits Scots’ fear of unknown ahead of Fiji clash

The Scots inflicted a shock defeat on Australia 10 days ago thanks to Greig Laidlaw’s last-gasp winning kick but they must now turn their attention to the match in Lautoka.

The core of their opponents’ team is based in Fiji, while a rebuilding process since their World Cup disappointment leaves Scotland without even the comfort of video analysis to point them in the right direction.

“It is almost more scary, because we have not really seen many of them play, we have not had much footage of them and have not played against them before,” said the flanker, who completed 32 tackles against Australia.

• Read Iain Morrison’s match report from Fiji tomorrow morning on scotsman.com

“There is quite a bit of unknown but as long as we concentrate on our jobs and do what we said we are going to do, hopefully we will be okay.

“The thing about the Fijians is that individually they are so classy in terms of offloading ability, they can test any kind of defence.

“Obviously we have looked a lot at them this week, and if we defend how we plan to, as long as we get our drills right, I think we should be fine.”

After a troublesome year, Scotland too are rebuilding, particularly in the backs.

Tim Visser has now qualified on residency and wins his first cap while Matt Scott gets his second start, Stuart Hogg his fifth and Laidlaw just his seventh cap at fly-half.

“The whole point is that this has to be the beginning of something,” said Rennie. “If we don’t win this weekend, then it (the win in Australia) would be all for nothing in that sense. We really are trying to build something here, build performances and build wins.”

Further incentive to Scotland is the prospect of a place back in the top 10 of the world rankings after their embarrassing Six Nations campaign relegated them to 12th.

Any win would be enough to overtake the loser of the match between the teams currently in ninth and 10th, Samoa and Tonga.

And Rennie felt the game against Australia proved they are a better side than their current ranking suggests.

“The Australia game was a great win, a great win for everybody,” he said. “There was a great relief to have put all that work in and finally get something for it, that was really good.

“There was a huge amount of euphoria that there was a feeling ‘yes we can do this’, it was very pleasing for all the guys.

“Now we have forgotten about it and really are looking forward to building this weekend.”