Unsurprisingly, given what was at stake, the game was a dour affair. Two Gavin Hastings penalties gave Scotland early hope, before Jon Webb put England onto the scoreboard, also from a penalty.
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England met Australia, conquerors of New Zealand in the other semi-final, at Twickenham for the Webb Ellis trophy, where the Wallabies emerged triumphant by twelve points to six.
The play-off for third and fourth place is always an anti-climax on these occasions, but the Scottish players travelled to Cardiff to face New Zealand , knowing that they had the chance to write themselves into the record books by becoming the first Scotland side to defeat the All Blacks.
In contrast to the semi-final, the play-off was an open affair although tries were still hard to come by. A Gavin Hastings penalty gave Scotland the lead, but Preston had the Kiwi's 6-3 ahead at half time. An exchange of penalties in the second half kept Scotland in touch and they mounted a furious assault on the New Zealand try-line.
Crucially, they couldn't break through and when Walter Little crossed the line for the game's only try in the last few seconds it put the end to a spirited showing from the Scots.
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Finishing fourth in the world was no disgrace, but Scotland were left to rue missed chances that denied them what may well transpire to be their best ever opportunity of becoming World Champions.
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