Scotland centre Matt Scott suffered the ignominy of defeat to minnows Tonga 12 months ago – now he is determined to ensure there is no repeat against Japan.
The Dark Blues open their Autumn Test series with Saturday’s Murrayfield clash against the Brave Blossoms before also hosting South Africa and Australia.
They head into the opener in much better shape than they did for the meeting with Tonga last November.
Having lost to both New Zealand and the Springboks, former boss Andy Robinson was forced to resign after the match in Aberdeen with the South Sea Islanders, when the Scots went down to a shock 21-15 defeat.
But since then, the side have been buoyed by a third-place finish at last year’s RBS 6 Nations and a couple of decent displays during their summer tour to South Africa.
However, Edinburgh’s Scott is well aware that relaxing against the Japanese could leave head coach Scott Johnson’s men open to another nasty upset.
“We saw last year at Pittodrie what can happen if you don’t take these games seriously enough,” he said.
“We recovered pretty quickly from that Tonga defeat and did well in the Six Nations. But the feeling of that day is still ingrained in everybody’s memory.”
Scott says Johnson has instructed the team to play each Test as though it is their last.
“Japan are a quality side and we can’t take them lightly. Okay, they are an emerging nation but they have beaten the likes of Fiji and the Unites States, good teams,” Scott said.
“They will be targeting us for a win and will be a very dangerous side. We will put our strongest side out, but we will still need to give it our all.”
The Scots put on a brave display before going down 30-17 in Nelspruit during the summer, while their last meeting with the Wallabies in June last year ended with a famous 9-6 victory in Newcastle.
But Scott says the focus being put on the result against Japan comes a close second to the attention the Dark Blues are paying to the quality of their performance.
“The performance is the thing we should be focusing on mainly, because if we play well I think we will win,” he said.
“There’s no doubt about that and I’m confident we are good enough to take care of Japan.
“But it’s no good losing the first game when we have to massive sides in South Africa and Australia to come next, so the result does matter too.”
