SCOTLAND

15. Stuart Hogg: 7
Scotland’s best fly-half on the day, adding excellent distance to the kicking game in defensive situations. Unusually secure under the high ball and his one line break set up the position for Nel’s try. On the downside he butchered a two on one with Maitland outside him. A more mature performance from the Hawick man than we are used to.

14. Tommy Seymour: 8
Completely dominant in the air and twice unlucky to miss out on a try following Matsuda’s pretty cynical knock on and Laidlaw’s kick downfield. Despite a stellar list of wing possibilities Seymour has to be interesting whoever ends up being Lions selectors.

13. Duncan Taylor: 5
After the last six weeks with Saracens, anything might seem like a bit of an anti-climax but this was Taylor’s least effective game for Scotland. Will benefit from a stretch on a sun lounger. He doesn’t make much of a lineout forward either.

12. Matt Scott: 6.5
Still not back to his best after a horrendous injury run and when healthy he has been completely mis-used at Edinburgh for two years. Some nice flashes but the Scott of old would have finished off Gray Snr’s line break in the first half with a score in the corner. Hopefully he can be fully rehabilitated at Kingsholm next season.

11. Damien Hoyland: 4
While given little chance to show his attacking flair, Hoyland looked a little out of his depth at times, particularly in defence. I can’t help feeling he would have been better off making a real push for Rio this summer.

10. Ruaridh Jackson: 5
Those of us who have been watching and waiting years for the Aberdonian fly-half to develop into the international player he has, at times, seemed capable of being were treated to a typically Jacksonesque performance. Pretty passing, good intent, and at least a couple of boneheaded, face-slapping mistakes. Too old to show just ‘promise’ anymore, and his kicking from hand lacked range.

9. Greig Laidlaw: 7.5
He does what he does; his pass doesn’t fizz, his box kicking is patchy and he doesn’t threaten the gainline but given plenty of ball by his forwards the Gloucester scrum half was completely in charge of this game as he moved Scotland deftly around the pitch. Goal kicking was immaculate as usual.

1. Al Dickinson: N/A
One of the cornerstones of Scotland’s recent scrum revival, limped off after only 3 minutes.

2. Stuart McInally: 4
The Edinburgh front row convert struggled to make an impact in only his second start for Scotland. A badly overthrown lineout blew a golden attacking opportunity and despite his back row origin story, his ball carrying was inconspicuous at best. Substituted early on 47 minutes.

3. WP Nel: 8
Despite losing Dickinson early Nel was at the heart of a Scottish scrum that was in the ascendancy for most of the match. Seeing him burrow over for a trademark close range try was no surprise to Edinburgh fans. Nel might be Scotland’s most important player.

4. Richie Gray: 7
In a minor miracle Richie played his last match for Castres at the weekend, flew half way across the world, dominated the lineout, charged down a kick and generally cantered around in typical fashion.

5. Jonny Gray: 8
While his brother gets noticed doing the flashy stuff all Jonny did was carry hard, make his tackles and hit rucks all day. I know which Gray would be first on my team sheet. You don’t win 64% of possession by accident and Jonny was at the heart of the tight five effort in this game.

6. John Barclay: 8
Barclay looked every inch the savvy veteran he is. They key to stopping Japan is to prevent them getting the lightning quick ball they thrive on and the Scarlets favourite seemed to be in and around every ruck doing just that. Whatever problems a certain Director of Rugby had with Barclay seem long gone.

7. John Hardie: 7
Not spectacular, no turnovers and he didn’t carry much but without anybody noticing, Hardie quietly made more tackles than any other Scotland player. Back row ninja!

8. Ryan Wilson: 8.5
In a pack short of true ball carriers, Wilson had to pick up the slack with 14 carries that all seemed to get over the gain line. Add in a couple of key turnovers and it adds up to Scotland’s most effective performer.

Replacements: 6
Sean Maitland was the pick of the replacements, while Fraser Brown’s torrid afternoon featured a scrum and lineout missed against the head. Tim Swinson and Moray Low must surely just be keeping the jumpers warm until other options are available again.

JAPAN

15. Kotaro Matsushima: 4
One of the RWC stars that actually made it onto the pitch for this game, Matsushima contributed a kick out on the full before leaving with an injury after 15 minutes.

14. Mifi Paea: 5
Seemed to work hard to get on the ball and Paea ran straight on the few occasions it came his way.

13. Tim Bennetts: 4
One pass made, two carries for three metres and 12 tackles. No need to buy the forwards a beer after this game. Scotland were not at their most creative but Japan’s centres had to get through a power of work to keep them in the game.

12. Harumichi Tatekawa: 5
Nice support line in the build up to the try and only Mafi in the Japan side made more carries but most of Tatekawa’s day was spent defending.

11. Yasutaka Sasakura: 3
His centres inside him made a grand total of three passes between them. Unsurprisingly, after watching the game twice I still didn’t have a single note about him. Made four tackles, apparently.

10. Yu Tamura: 6
Another without a real chance to shine but it was a nice, old fashioned take and give mixed with a gentle lean that drew the defender and put his captain through the gap for the try. Will have better days.

9. Kaito Shigeno: 6
A week after making his debut against Canada, Shigeno was given almost no ball to work with. He did show great confidence and quick thinking to take the quick tap that led to Japan’s try.

1. Keita Inegaki: 5
Struggled mightily against Nel in the scrum and gave away twice as many penalties as anybody else on the pitch. On the flip side Inegaki was active in the loose and 14 tackles from a prop is not to be sniffed at.

2. Shota Horie: 7
Like the rest of the team he led, Horie tackled and hit rucks relentlessly all day. Excellent support play to get in position for the try.

3. Kensuke Hatakeyama: 4
Wasn’t able to get on top of a much less experienced opponent in the scrum and didn’t show up much around the park.

4. Hitoshi Ono: 3
Unfortunately for Japan, their most experienced player is a normal-sized, middle aged man trying to play against the physical freaks that now pass as international lock forwards. Two carries, three missed tackles, no impact. Without a platform from their front five, Japan were never able to get a toehold in the game.

5. Naohiro Kataki: 4
Kataki at least has an excuse, not only is he a little undersized, this is his first season of international rugby. With the greatest possible respect this was a major step up from previous matches against Hong Kong and Korea.

6. Hendrik Tui: 5
One of Japan’s more effective players going forward, Tui was guilty of one of the more obvious side entries at a maul you will see. Given the referee had given Horie a team warning just one minute previously, the inevitable yellow card seemed more for rank stupidity than anything else and put the rest of his team in a bad position just before half time.

7. Shokei Kin: 5
Another normal sized person playing international rugby but that doesn’t excuse Kin’s unnecessary return pass that wasted Japan’s best attacking chance of the second half.

8. Amanaki Mafi: 7
Mafi tormented Vern Cotter’s side at Kingsholm nine months ag,o until his injury turned the game in Scotland’s favour. On this occasion, despite his 13 carries the former Bath No.8 was pretty well marshalled by a defence very much alive to his potential impact.

strong>Replacements: 5
Matsuda had an absolute shocker, his deliberate knock and the inevitable penalty try / yellow card combo that followed shattering Japan’s hopes of getting anything from the game. Most subs surprisingly weren’t used.

By Stephen Smith (@smsmith70)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images