Rugby World Cup 2015: Blair Cowan eyes upsetting Australia

Openside Blair Cowan starts for Scotland

Blair Cowan says Scotland are determined to upset the odds against Australia in Sunday's World Cup quarter-final at Twickenham.

The London Irish flanker will start the match as one of two opensides in the Scots' back-row, alongside John Hardie.

"If you don't have self belief and genuinely believe you can win, there is no point in going out," said the 29-year-old.

"We are very aware of how good we can be and on our day we can beat anyone."

Scotland head coach Vern Cotter has said his team will "have a real go" at the Wallabies and that his players have "got things that we can throw at them and upset them."

Cowan was controversially left out of the initial World Cup squad, then called-up following injuries - "from the couch to the Cup," he joked.

And, while not keen to divulge what Cotter was alluding to, the flanker did point to parts of the Scots' game he thinks will be key.

"You could be surprised with any facet of the game with us," he said. "We haven't had a lot of strike power the last few games and against Samoa our lineout wasn't what it could have been.

Cowan started against South Africa in Scotland's Pool B loss

"If we can get that working then we can get ourselves in the game more."

The 29-year-old also stressed the importance of routine and level-headedness pre-match.

"I'm very aware this is the biggest game, probably, of my life and career," he said.

"But, at the same time, I've got jobs to do and processes I need to go through before the game and I need to stay on task with that.

"This could be the pinnacle, definitely, of a lot of people's careers.

"It's something we've spoken about, milestones we all want to reach, so we're all on the same page with that."

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