Scotland denies Japan revenge
Japan was out to seek revenge for their World Cup loss at the hands of Scotland under former Japan coach Eddie Jones last year.
However, a brave show by Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw with four penalties and added two conversions for his team ensured Japan's revenge is merely a mission they have yet to complete.
"It was a good win," Laidlaw said. "We probably need to tighten up a little bit more and be more accurate. We let Japan off the hook a little bit in the second half," he added.
"But we're here to win two games so we will look to improve for next week,"
Japan stunned mighty South Africa in their opening game at the World Cup but, after a four-day turnaround, Scotland took the wind out of their sails with a crushing 45-10 win in their next match.
The Japanese squad selected for Scotland's visit contains only 12 players who helped them beat the Springboks, Samoa and the United States.
Captain Michael Leitch, Ayumu Goromaru, Fumiaki Tanaka and Male Sa'u have been ruled out with injury with international retirements and sevens commitments further depleting their ranks.
But they wilted after a promising start in Toyota, a penalty try just before halftime allowing Scotland to go into the break leading 16-10.
With two Japanese players sin-binned, tighthead prop Willem Nel bulldozed over from close range three minutes into the second half to stretch Scotland's lead – one that never looked in any real danger.
"We have to take it on the chin," said Japan captain Shota Horie, scorer of the home side's only try on 10 minutes.
"We're extremely disappointed. We made a lot of mistakes and gave them a lot of chances to score. That's something we need to look at and improve before next week."
Japan came into this game on the back of a 26-22 victory over Canada in Vancouver but Scotland had not played any international rugby since finishing fourth in the Six Nations tournament in March.
"The scoreline was closer," Laidlaw when asked how different Japan were from the side they overran at the World Cup.
"Credit to the players and coaches, they're improving all the time,"
The teams meet again in Tokyo next weekend.
The scorers:
For Scotland:
Tries: Penalty Try, Nel
Cons: Laidlaw 2
Pens: Laidlaw 4
For Japan:
Try: Horie
Con: Tamura
Pens: Tamara 2
Yellow Cards: Matsuda, Tui
Japan: 15 Kotaro Matsushima, 14 Mifiposeti Paea, 13 Tim Bennetts, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Yasutaka Sasakura, 10 Yu Tamura, 9 Kaito Shigeno, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Shokei Kin, 6 Hendrik Tui, 5 Naohiro Kotaki, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements: 16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Shinnosuke Kakinaga, 19 Kotaro Yatabe, 20 Hiroki Yamamoto, 21 Keisuke Uchida, 22 Kosei Ono, 23 Rikiya Matsuda
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Damien Hoyland, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 John Hardie, 6 John Barclay, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Alasdair Dickinson
Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 Moray Low, 19 Tim Swinson, 20 David Denton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Sean Maitland
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Marius Mitrea (Italy), Brendan Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Ian Smith (Australia)
Agence France-Presse
