What's happening
Scotland - Japan

October 12 Match

WHAT'S HAPPENING? (posted 13th October 2003)
Townsville's Dairy Farmers Stadium was the scene for Sunday night's clash between Scotland and Japan. If the Scottish thought they were going to have an easy game they were sadly mistaken. If the Japanese team had been hoping for the Scots to melt in the hot humid weather they were let down - the temperature was a very mild 23 deg celcius. Beautiful playing conditions!

The game began and Scotland's Paterson strolled over to score a try within minutes of the kick off. Things were looking okay for Scotland at this stage. Grimes also scored a try in the first half, and Paterson converted both. Meanwhile the Japanese team, the Cherry Blossoms (the boys don't exactly match the connotations of that name!) were putting on a brave effort to keep the Scots from scoring any further points.

The second half saw Japan still in there, and they finally cracked the Scottish defence to put Onozawa over for a try. This brought the Cherry Blossoms to within 4 points of their Scottish counterparts. Yeah - that's what we like to see, some excitement! Sadly, an element lacking in landslide victories. Sadly for Japan, that was as close to the Scottish scoreline as they were going to get. Paterson scored again, and the Japanese team seemed to run out of puff. The Scots crossed twice more to pick up a bonus point for the game eventually winning 32-11.

The scoreline probably didn't reflect the closeness between the two teams - Scotland was lucky to get away with the win and to score the bonus point. The Japanese team can hold their heads high - guys you played a good hard game! The Scottish can't hide behind their skirts - er kilts - they have a LOT of shaping up to do. Had they played one of the big guns of the tournament on Sunday night they would most likely be off licking their wounds about now.