THE minute they completed one set of four games with that narrow defeat by France last weekend, Scotland turned their attention to the next quartet. With two wins and two losses, those warm-up matches went down as a qualified success, in which the team grew in confidence and capability. The series of games they are about to embark on, however, presents a very different challenge.

For one thing, there is the scheduling. From a regular programme of one match every Saturday – Ireland away, Italy away then home, and France away – the national team have to learn to cope with a World Cup schedule that starts with two games in four days, a six-day rest, one more match, then a full week off.

More significantly, of course, there is the fact that the phoney war is over. Nobody is experimenting any more with curious moves or positional switches. This is the real thing and, for all that Scotland have improved over the past month, the same return of two wins and two losses from their Pool B games might not be good enough for them to progress to the quarter-finals.

The first opponents, Japan, are expected to be the weakest team in the group, but Vern Cotter, Scotland’s head coach, warned months ago that they will throw everything they have at his team. Cotter believes the Japanese will accept defeat by South Africa in their first match, and target the Scotland game four days later as their biggest chance of making an impact on the tournament.

With the more physical challenge of the United States just around the corner, could Cotter’s squad be tempted to husband their resources against the Japanese? Grant Gilchrist, the Edinburgh lock who is in contention for a starting place alongside Jonny Gray, believes they would be foolish to give in to such temptation.

“It’s the World Cup,” Gilchrist said when asked how Scotland would approach opponents who feel they have to throw everything into a match. “I’d expect we’re going to have a similar attitude. We’ve got four games we want to win, and if they’re setting out their stall just to beat us it’s a slightly different mindset. But a World Cup is the pinnacle of rugby. It’s the biggest tournament. Japan are a much-improved side, and it’s going to be a massive test. If we go in with the attitude of saving ourselves for South Africa or Samoa then we’re going to end up getting in bother. We have to match their attitude. There’s no reason why we can’t go into the game with the same attitude, because it’s a World Cup and it means so much to the players and the nation.”

Although he has captained his country, Gilchrist is not, at present, part of the Thistle Group, the small set of senior players with whom Cotter regularly consults. Even so, the coach has made it clear to the 25-year-old that he remains one of his key leaders.

“When it [the Thistle Group] was set up, I wasn’t involved,” Gilchrist said. “It’s maybe something I’ll get involved with down the track. Vern said he wants to see a leadership role from me. He wants me to be a leader within the team. You need as many leaders as you can and he wants me to do that when I’m playing. He sees leadership in me and it’s something that comes quite naturally. Even if I’m not leading the side, it’s still something you can bring to the team.”

Cotter makes different demands of different players, but he expects the highest standards from every one of them.

“I have a lot of respect for Vern,” Gilchrist continued. “He’s very hard on us. He keeps us under pressure. In training, we’re always under a bit of pressure. He’s testing guys all the time. His attention to detail is excellent. In a training session, sometimes I’ll feel we’re going pretty well and he’ll just rock up and go ‘You’re not doing this’. It’s small details, and it’s small details that are really going to matter. He doesn’t let anything slide. As a player, you feel every session that you’re under pressure to perform, which is maybe unusual, but I think it’s a good thing.

“You only get better if you really feel you have to be on top of your game in training. Otherwise, he’s going to pick you up and say ‘Why are you not doing that’? We’ll have video reviews of training where there will be five, six, seven clips of things that he wants improved, and that attention to detail is something I’ve noticed a lot more with Vern than with other coaches I’ve had.

“He does have a laugh every now and again,” Gilchrist added when asked if Cotter ever lightened up. “He’s a hard guy to read – he likes to wind the boys up. He likes to play on the whole being-a-bit-serious thing and then he cracks a joke and you’ve no idea if he’s serious. He does crack the odd smile, but he’s obviously there to do a job.”

Equally obviously, so are the players. Their job in the warm-up matches was to demonstrate the kind of form that would make them feel more confident – and get their World Cup opponents worrying. Their job in the coming weeks is to impose themselves on those opponents.

“Going into the France game, Vern was talking about it being a real opportunity to set down our marker for the other nations – that we’re going to be a real force. To a certain extent, we’ve done that.

“The competition, when it’s full on, is a separate beast really, so as soon as we get into those games, every chance you get on the field is the opportunity to set down a marker. If we go out and play our best against Japan, it sets down a marker to America that in four days’ time we’re coming after them as well.”