Trip of a lifetime for three World Cup fans
Scotland crashed out of the World Cup at the weekend following an epic and memorable encounter with hosts Japan.
While the immediate disappointment is strong, the tournament provided the platform for three rugby fans from Perthshire to have the trip of a lifetime.
Brothers Ruaridh and Lewis Watson from Forgandenny and Fraser Doig from Glenfarg have been soaking up the highquality action and culture in eastern Asia.
They were also required to take shelter from deadly Typhoon Hagibis on Saturday, one of the strongest storms to hit the region in recent years.
That weather front put the Scots’ final group game in jeopardy but the skies soon cleared and the intrepid trio took their seats in the Yokohama International Stadium.
Gregor Townsend’s men went down 28-21 to a Japanese side who topped the Pool A standings to ease into the quarter finals.
Despite the result, the sporting spectacle has created memories that will last a lifetime for the former Strathallan School students.
“Japan was a country that had been high up our bucket lists and we’re massive rugby fans so the combo of the two was something we couldn’t not go for,” said Ruaridh (26).
“We had heard Japan was an incredible adventure, both scenery and the culture of the country.
“So far it has been everything we thought, some incredible sights, class bowls of ramen, loads of sushi, and the rugby games have been spot on.
“Planning started in September last year when the fixtures were released and we entered the ballot. We had already booked our flights before the ballot results came in, as the cheapest ones went on sale a year before we flew.
“Thankfully some good results in the ballot came in, and we all got the time off early doors from work, and the plan was in place.”
Kicking-off the action on the trip was Scotland’s penultimate group game contest against Russia in Fukuroi - a much-needed 61-0 triumph.
Fraser (25) was quick to highlight the incredible buzz that the tournament has brought to cities across the country.
“Wearing the Scotland colours has been brilliant and the full kilt attire has definitely attracted attention from the locals,” he said.
“Coming out of Shizuoka stadium on Wednesday after destroying the Russians, the party in the streets and the fan zone was massive. That was due to how many Scotland fans there were in Japan, which was definitely more than we expected.
“The hosts have been unbelievable, getting behind all the teams in the tournament. The buzz has been incredible.”
Twenty-five-yearold Lewis labelled the atmosphere “unbelievable” at Sunday’s Japan match. He was delighted the game got the nod following Typhoon Hagibis.
“We had tickets for Scotland versus Japan in Yokohama and it’s safe to say if it didn’t go ahead we would have been gutted,” said Lewis.
“We had been looking forward to this game of rugby for over a year. To be fair, we didn’t ever think that typhoons would be an issue, until we got here.
“We thought world rugby might have waited until the end of the season to put the tournament on.
“We were just hoping the Scotland game went ahead as the tournament is doing great things for opening world rugby’s geography and for the people of Japan.
“It was hard to know what to do with the typhoon as there was trouble predicting the changing route it would take.
“But we just decided to bunker down in a hotel with solidly built foundations for a couple of nights and let the storm pass.”