Scotland's wonderful World Cup dream is over.

After stunning group triumphs over Tonga and USA and a thrilling draw with Italy, inspirational Giants captain Danny Brough’s Bravehearts came unstuck against the might of reigning world champions New Zealand.

Losing by a margin of 40-4 was obviously tough for Scotland to take.

But while the Scots were far from being at their best, it’s fair to say that at times the Kiwis were breathtaking in their execution.

Their silky skills were a joy to behold, with the power they possess across the board simply awesome. England will clearly have their work cut out to match them if they beat France tonight to set up a Wembley semi-final showdown next Saturday.

Scotland gave as good as they got in the opening exchanges, with neat grubbers from Brough and Peter Wallace forcing New Zealand to drop-out twice from under their posts in the first six minutes.

But from the moment Bryson Goodwin opened the scoring with a long-range effort in the eighth minute, it was obvious it was going to be an uphill task for the Bravehearts.

Apart from an exciting half-break from Brough which failed to produce the right finish four minutes later, it was all New Zealand, who scored some scintillating tries.

Jesse Bromwich, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Frank Pritchard and Shaun Johnson all crossed for scores and Johnson landed three conversions to make it 26-0 at the break, and the game was already over as a contest.

It took the visitors nine minutes to open their second-half account with a stunning long-range effort from Tuivasa-Sheck.

Opposite winger Manu Vatuvei followed up with his first to make it 36-0 after an hour, and by then it was a case of the Scots trying to keep their pride intact.

That process got under way with a brilliant Brough 40-20 with 17 minutes remaining paving the way for Brough and Kane Linnett to combine superbly for Alex Hurst to cross in the corner.

Scotland skipper Brough failed to land the touchline conversion, but the fact his side had finally got on the scoresheet meant failing to add the extras was hardly the end of the world.

Goodwin added New Zealand’s eighth try in the 70th minute to bring up the 40-point mark in the process and seal an impressive victory.