James Hamilton is confident Scotland's young team will recover from their ''missed opportunity'' in this World Cup and eventually make a statement in the Test arena.

The Scots' bid to reach the tournament's last four for only the second time ended in disappointment on Sunday night as a late rally failed to prevent a 19-13 defeat to Argentina in a scrappy quarter-final in Paris.

With the Pumas failing to hit the heights like they did in the group stages - they topped a tough Pool D that included hosts France and Ireland - Hamilton viewed his team's last-eight reverse as a chance gone begging.

But the Leicester lock, playing his first year of international rugby, has seen enough over the last couple of months to suggest that this is only the beginning for Frank Hadden's bunch of youngsters.

The 24-year-old said: ''The boys are feeling gutted as it was definitely a missed opportunity, but we will look back and learn from it. Obviously we have made massive strides, but we wanted to do something in this World Cup and we haven't.

''Getting to the quarters was a must and anything past that would have been special.

''A lot of the guys will have another chance, but some of them won't, and we have seen that this World Cup has been blown wide open.

''But we are only a young pack. I'm 24, Ross Ford's 23, Ally Hogg's 24 and Euan Murray is young but competing with the best of them.

''We need to start getting out of this mediocrity that people perceive us to be in and start competing. And even though I have only been in the squad for less than a year, I can feel there is something special here.

''It's frustrating knowing we could have done some damage but I am confident that in my era, Scotland will be a special team.''

But Hamilton reckons the Pumas will have to go up a gear if they are to worry semi-final opponents South Africa.

''Argentina deserve their place in the semis. They won the game fair and square, and are a good team.

''But as a forward in the game, I am not as sore as I thought I'd be. It was weird.

''It was not as physical as the Italy game (in the pool stages) and I thought around the fringes and in the scrum, we did ourselves justice.

''I think they need to up their game (against the Springboks). I don't think they played well here. They took their chances but they are better than what they showed against us.

* Wales rugby chief Roger Lewis flies out to New Zealand today on a scouting mission in search of a long-term replacement for sacked coach Gareth Jenkins.

Lewis, the Welsh Rugby Union's group chief executive, along with chairman David Pickering, travel to speak to five candidates to succeed Jenkins, who was removed following Wales' failure in France.