We will learn from Japan – Scots’ coach

GREGOR Townsend insists Scotland can recover from their World Cup heartache – but knows they must learn from the mistakes that cost them in Japan.

The Dark Blues crashed out at the pool stage for only the second time in the competition’s history after a 28-21 loss to the hosts in Yokohama.

It was a another painful conclusion to a campaign that got off to a dismal start with the 27-3 thrashing from Ireland.

The Scots’ defence struggled to contain a rampant Brave Blossoms attack that for 45 minutes refused to relent with their ceaseless surges.

The hosts scored four tries in that period to kill off the Scots’ hopes of reaching the quarterfinals as they instead set up their own knock-out clash with South Africa in Tokyo next Sunday.

But it is now back to the drawing board for Townsend and his side after a miserable 2019.

However, the head coach – whose side finished fifth in this year’s Guinness Six Nations - said: “There’s a lot more in this team.

“Experiences are what make you as a group and how you react to those experiences.

“It was a unique situation we were in tonight. We always knew it was going to be a challenge playing against Japan, given our short turnaround from the Russia game.

“We had the team and we had the ability at the start of that game to go on and win it by the necessary amount of points.

“That we didn’t is hugely disappointing. We have to learn from that. We don’t get another turn at the World Cup for four years but we’ve got to improve as we get to next tournament which is the Six Nations in three months’ time.”

The build-up to the match was overshadowed by the threat of Typhoon Hagibis, with the clash at Yokohama’s International Stadium only getting the green light eight hours before kick-off.

But Townsend refused to use that as an excuse for his side’s defeat.

It looked promising for the Dark Blues when Finn Russell put them ahead early but Japan hit back with Kenki Fukuoka’s double, plus scores from Kotaro Matsushima and Keita Inagaki.

Scotland refused to go down without a fight – but second-half scores from forwards WP Nel and Zander Fagerson were simply not enough.

“We started well and then we didn’t see the ball for the rest of the first half,” Townend said.

“We conceded two soft tries and we made too many mistakes.”