It wasn’t perfect by any means, and there were quite a few eyes looking skyward and nervous twitches from fans around half-time at Kingholm. But Scotland are off and running as well as could be expected in Rugby World Cup 2015.
A five-try, 45-10 crushing of the obdurate Japanese should really tick all the boxes. Perfectionists, like Scotland head coach Vern Cotter, will wince at the occasional sloppiness, and the passivity in defence when Japan sensed an upset to match their victory against the Springboks in Brighton might be there for the taking.
Instead, an injury to their talismanic No 8 and first-half try-scorer Amanaki Mafi was the signal for the Scots to open out with all barrels, going from a nervy 12-10 advantage to an eventual cruise to victory in the last half-hour.
Greig Laidlaw kicked 20 points and won man of the match, while Mark Bennett scored two fine tries, and John Hardie, Tommy Seymour and Finn Russell the others as the Brave Blossoms wilted in the last 32 minutes. Five tries in one game is more than Scotland scored in the whole of their 2011 World Cup campaign.
Much will no doubt be made of Japan being forced to meet the Scots just four days after their epic effort against South Africa, a cause celebre amongst those who believe the Tier One nations like Scotland get too much beneficial treatment in scheduling during the World Cup.
That’s for others to debate, but Scotland will now only be concerned with their own four-day turnaround before Sunday’s meeting with the USA. The signs are they came through a tough physical assignment with no injuries, and confidence will be sky-high as they move up to Leeds for their second pool game.
The Scots began brightly, Russell’s well-judged kick in the first minute pinning the Japanese back and a routine penalty kicked by Laidlaw when the driving maul was illegally stopped. The skipper and scrum-half booted a second penalty after 11 minutes following a scrum penalty, and it was so far, so simple and reasonably good.
But then Japan showed they had plenty of their verve and bite from Brighton still in reserve. A clumsy penalty conceded by Grant Gilchrist allowed the impressive full-back Ayumi Goromaru to pin Scotland back at their line, and Japan’s lineout drive swept past pitiful Scots resistance for Mafi to score, Goromaru converting.
The lead lasted just two minutes, Laidlaw kicking a third penalty after an illegal tackle, but the nerves the try created lasted a lot longer. Even a yellow card for Kotaro Matsushima saw the Japanese spent most of the ten minutes a man down on the attack, and Mafi was only stopped going over the top of a goal line ruck for a second try by quick reactions by Laidlaw and Ross Ford.
Goromaru’s fine last gasp tackle on Seymour kept Scotland at bay on an attack on the last play of the half, but Japan’s impressive phase play and incisive work had the Scots on the rack especially when Mafi made two runs that threatened another try early in the second half.
However the No 8, the game’s outstanding player to that point, suffered a knee injury and was stretchered from the field. With a minute, Hardie was nipping over for a debut try for his adopted country after being involved in the build-up with a break up the left touchline.
When Goromaru hit the post with an easy penalty, the game was up for the Japanese. On Scotland’s next attack Hogg went sprinting through the defence, Bennett cutting an unstoppable line from Laidlaw’s inside pass to score under the posts.
Japan tried to rally but instead Seymour pinched an interception inside his own 22 and returned it 80 metres the other way for the score which finally ended the giantkillers’ resistance.
Bennett dodged through past three defenders for his second score to secure the bonus point, then Russell celebrated his 23rd birthday being doing the same close to the posts, Laidlaw converting four times as the Scots ran up the scoreline ruthlessly.
Att: 14,354
Scotland: S Hogg (Glasgow, S Maitland (London Irish) 66); T Seymour (Glasgow), M Bennett (Glasgow, P Horne (Glasgow) 75), M Scott (Edinburgh), S Lamont (Glasgow); F Russell (Glasgow), G Laidlaw (Gloucester, capt); A Dickinson (Edinburgh, R Grant (Glasgow) 66), R Ford (Edinburgh, F Brown (Glasgow) 70), W Nel (Edinburgh, J Welsh (Glasgow) 70); J Gray (Glasgow), G Gilchrist (Edinburgh, R Gray (Castres) 50); R Wilson (Glasgow, J Strauss (Glasgow) 57), J Hardie (unattached), D Denton (Edinburgh).
Japan: A Goromaru; K Matsushima, M Sau, Y Tamura, K Fukuoka; H Tatekawa (K Hesketh 72), F Tanaka (A Hiwasa 65); K Inagaki (M Mikami 40), S Horie (T Kizu 70), H Yamashita (K Hatakeyama 53); L Thompson (S Ito 65), J Ives (S Makabe 61); M Leitch (capt), M Broadhurst, A Mafi (H Tui 45).