Scotland rugby centre wary of Japan threat

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Scotland centre Matt Scott hopes the memory of last season’s defeat by minnows Tonga will help guard against complacency when Japan arrive at Murrayfield on Saturday.

This weekend’s match will be the first of Scotland’s November campaign before seemingly tougher encounters with South Africa and Australia in Edinburgh follow later this month.

Yet the memory of last November’s shock 21-15 loss to Tonga in Aberdeen, which followed defeats by New Zealand and the Springboks, and led to the resignation of then Scotland coach Andy Robinson, remains vivid.

However, under Australian Scott Johnson, Scotland recovered to finish third in last season’s Six Nations and then produced some encouraging display during a tournament in South Africa.

But a cautious Scott said: “We saw last year at Pittodrie what can happen if you don’t take these games seriously enough. We don’t want that happening to us again.

“We recovered pretty quickly from that Tonga defeat and did well in the Six Nations. But the feeling of that day is still ingrained in everybody’s memory.

“I had only won six caps before that game and I was pretty new to things then. It wasn’t a pleasant experience at all and it’s not something I want to be repeating.”

Scot added: “Johnno has told us to play each Test like it’s our last. Japan are a quality side and we can’t take them lightly. Okay, they are an emerging nation but they have beaten the likes of Fiji and the Unites States, good teams.

“They will be targeting us for a win and will be a very dangerous side. We will put our strongest side out, but we will still need to give it our all.”

“The performance is the thing we should be focusing on mainly, because if we play well I think we will win.

“There’s no doubt about that and I’m confident we are good enough to take care of Japan,” the 23-year-old insisted.

“But it’s no good losing the first game when we have to massive sides in South Africa and Australia to come next, so the result does matter too.”

V Scotland Japan
Games played:	3
Games won by Scotland:	3 (100.00%)
Games lost by Scotland:	0
Games drawn:	0
Most wins in a row for Scotland over Japan:	3
Most losses in a row for Scotland to Japan:	0
Largest points for Scotland:	100 (100 – 8)
Largest points against Scotland:	11 (32 – 11)
Largest winning margin for Scotland:	92 (100 – 8)
Largest losing margin for Scotland:	–
Total points for Scotland:	179
Total points against Scotland:	28
Average points for Scotland per game:	59.67
Average points against Scotland per game:	9.33
Average points difference per game between Scotland and Japan:	+50.33

Games played between Scotland and Japan
	13 Nov 2004	Scotland	100-08	Japan
	12 Oct 2003	Scotland	32-11	Japan
	05 Oct 1991	Scotland	47-09	Japan