SCOTS SENT PACKING

Townsend’s men have no answer as ferocious Japan show superiority on emotional occasion

AMID all the talk of legal ramifications had this game not taken place, what eventually defeated Scotland here yesterday was a team for which a nation’s tragedy was used as inspiration.

That this game was played at all in the wake of Typhoon Hagibis and the hurricane-force winds that battered this country was nothing short of remarkable.

The performance from the host nation was superb. They rode an early Scotland onslaught and an opening try from Finn Russell before dominating the middle 40 minutes of this encounter, with some stunning rugby played at a blinding, unstoppable pace.

What an extraordinary evening for Japan. And what a deeply troubling one for Scotland.

Home before the knockout stage, we know where we stand in the current rugby world and it is some way below the Brave Blossoms now.

The inquests were beginning almost as soon as the Japan players began an emotional lap of honour.

It is only the second time Scotland have failed to make the last eight. The only other time it happened was when Andy Robinson was in charge in New Zealand in 2011.

What future now for Gregor Townsend? What lies in store for a host of experienced players for whom last orders may be called on their international careers.

Although Scotland did stage a second-half rally — and credit to them for that — this momentous occasion was all about Japan. They wanted it more than Townsend’s team and kept going even when it looked like they were going to run out of gas.

In the 2015 version of this competition, Japan beat South Africa and, although they did not qualify out of their group, they made a film about it. Heaven knows what they will do to commemorate this very special moment.

You could sense something historic was going to happen as you walked up to the International Stadium in Yokohama.

The night before a typhoon had wreaked death and destruction through Japan.

That tragedy seemed to heighten the emotions of the fans and the players from the start.

There was a spine-tingling moment before kick-off when the Japan players walked slowly off the pitch after the warm-up. Rather than head off one by one, they locked arms and walked off shoulder to shoulder.

That got the home crowd going and, from that moment, the noise from their fans was relentless.

There was a bit of noise from the Scotland fans when the faces of the likes of Darcy Graham and Stuart Hogg came on the big screen during the team announcement but that was one of the few moments their cheers were heard.

Yet an indication of how fired-up Scotland were for the occasion came in the first minute.

The normally undemonstrative Jonny Gray saw Allan Dell win a turnover and was so pumped he gestured to the Scotland fans to make their voices heard.

With just five minutes on the clock, Scotland took a deserved lead. It all started with a cross kick from Russell aimed for Graham. It looked like the Japanese defence had won the ball but the Scots stole it back.

They went through four attacking phases before Greig Laidlaw played a simple pass to Russell. The fly-half did not have to do much to get past two Japanese defenders for an easy score.

Laidlaw converted to give Scotland the perfect start.

Defensively, Scotland were sharp, with Jamie Ritchie making a vital turnover in front of his own posts to stop a possible Japanese try. Fraser Brown also ripped it out of Japanese hands at a vital stage.

With 16 minutes on the clock, Japan missed the chance to pull back three points.

Ritchie was penalised for a no-arms tackle on Shota Horie but Yu Tamura, the man who has been so reliable with the boot during the World Cup so far, left his effort short.

Two minutes later, Japan pulled level. Centre Chris Harris did well to make a tackle on Kenki Fukuoka but he managed to offload to winger Kotaro Matsushima.

With Hogg in no-man’s land, he made the most of the gaps in the Scottish defence to score. Tamura made up for his earlier penalty miss to put over the conversion.

Japan went ahead 14 minutes before the break with one of the greatest tries of this or any other World Cup.

Matsushima started the move by breaking through two tackles. Horie and James Moore were involved before Will Tupou played a pop-up pass to Keita Inagaki to score. Tamura put over the extras.

Gray was lucky not to be yellow-carded for what looked like contact with the head of hooker Horie but breathed a big sigh of relief when referee Ben O’Keeffe let him off with a warning.

Japan clearly felt they had the upper hand over Scotland at the scrum, opting for the set-piece rather than kicking to the corner for position.

They were certainly ahead in the physical battle and won a penalty at the breakdown.

Much to Scotland’s relief, Tamura missed his second three-point opportunity of the game.

It didn’t matter much. A minute before the break, Japan got their third try. A clever kick ahead from Timothy Lafaele was anticipated by Fukuoka, who ran in to score. Tamura converted.

Townsend made no changes at half-time. Perhaps he should have. Because two minutes after the restart, Japan went further ahead.

Harris, usually dependable in defence, had the ball stripped out of his grasp by Fukuoka, who ran in to score.

It all seemed a forlorn hope for Scotland now. A mountain the size of Fuji lay in front of them.

Yet, in the 49th minute, they saw their chances improve slightly when WP Nel crashed over for a try converted by Laidlaw.

That brought a bit of hope for Scotland, with Russell trying all his tricks.

It was a quick throw-in that he took to himself that led to a forward surge by the Scotland pack and Zander Fagerson touching down from a pass from Gray. Russell put over the conversion.

It was now just a seven-point gap with 23 minutes left. It led to even more noise from the Japanese crowd to will their team on.

Scotland thought they were right back in it when Harris went over but it was correctly ruled out because of a forward pass from Peter Horne in the build-up. Tempers were getting understandably frayed as the game reached its climax, with Ritchie lucky to get away with a few late challenges.

As the clock kept ticking, Scotland’s flair players tried everything in their power to dig their team out of a hole. With five minutes left, the Scots won a line-out.

The ball was spread wide to Harris then all the way across the park to Sam Johnson but still there was no way through.

With three minutes left, Scotland had a scrum put-in near the Japanese line.

It was now or never. They won possession but could not work their way out of their half. When Japan won a turnover, that was it. The contest — for what it was — was over.

The hosts kept the ball in the forwards until the final whistle when scenes of incredible joy broke out all over the stadium. Who could blame them?