Head coach Frank Hadden remained upbeat as Scotland laboured to victory against a hard-hitting Samoa side. "I thought the guys showed real guts to tough it out against very physical opponents," he told BBC Sport.
"We created a lot of good chances and had territorial advantage and really should have had more points.
"Our commitment in the contact areas was tremendous and in the second half our defence was outstanding in the face of their huge runners."
Hadden was concerned by a spate of unforced errors - but explained: "The type of game we want to play is high risk.
"We could easily just kick the ball downfield all afternoon and probably wouldn't make so many mistakes. "But we want to get the ball out wide and perform in an exciting manner.
"It is all about control and I am convinced that the more we do that, the better we will become."
Winger Sean Lamont was Scotland's man-of-the-match but knows the team will have to improve as they prepare to face the might of New Zealand next weekend.
"It was incredibly tough," Lamont told BBC Sport.
"They are big, strong boys and there was a lot of big hits out there.
"We needed the win and we eventually ground it out, which is important.
"But we will really need to up our effort for next week."
Samoa captain Semo Sititi, who plays his rugby in Scotland with the Borders, felt his side should have won the game.
"We gave it our all and the way the boys put their bodies on the line for the blue jersey made me proud," he said.
"But our mistakes cost us the game. We are better than that."
MMIX
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Thought we were pretty lucky - we struggled to cope with the physicality of the Samoans
