Japan v Scotland – the most beautiful of games

Some of my fellow Scots may be feeling low, but surely nobody who truly loves rugby could fail to have enjoyed and been exhilarated by the marvellous game that took place in Yokohama on Sunday. Bryan Habana, the great South African wing who has played club rugby in Japan, may have been a bit carried away when he said it was one of the greatest matches ever played in the World Cup – I have a notion he even said “the greatest” – but it was certainly one that few who watched it will ever forget, at least until dementia sets in.

That it was played at all was extraordinary. Looking at the TV pictures on Saturday evening as the typhoon swept over Tokyo and Yokahama, it was hard to believe that normal life could resume in a few hours, let alone a rugby match be played in a packed stadium.

Scotland began well, which they don’t always. A lovely diagonal kick from Finn Russell almost brought a try for young Darcy Graham, and then after a few forward drives, Russell ghosted over for what he made look an easy try. Greig Laidlaw converted. 7-0 up, happy Scots wondering if Japan might soon feel the pressure of the occasion.

Not a bit of it. For the next forty minutes Japan owned the game. This was their pitch, their city, their tournament. They played perfect rugby, simple rugby, and they did it at speed, moving the play first one way, then the other, confident that eventually a gap would appear. Actually the first one came quite quickly, when Scotland found themselves short of numbers on the right and the brilliant left-wing Kenki Fukuoka off-loaded out of the tackle to the equally marvellous Kataro Matsushima who was over the line. The second try was even better. Lord knows how many hands the ball went through. Then a third try from Fukuoka on the stroke of half-time looked like the killer blow.

In that first half Japan had 79 per cent of possession. And there was no old-fashioned stuff-it-up-your-jumper rugby, no one phase, take the tackle, recycle repeatedly. They were playing a game of great skill at pace; it was sheer beauty. I don’t recall a single knock-on or handling error. Indeed in the half-time chat Ian McGeechan, former Scotland and Lions coach, called it “error-free” rugby. I don’t know how many passes were made; I do know that Scotland made more than a hundred tackles in forty minutes.

Fukuoka scored again a few minutes after the break, a try made by speed of thought, speed of foot, and a little luck. It was 28-7 and a bit more than half an hour to go. I confess to a feeling of dread more usually experienced in matches against the All Blacks or at Twickenham. But Scotland rallied. They came back. We had been marvelling at Japan’s brilliance, but it was this Scottish come-back which transformed what had been a beautiful exhibition into a great match. They attacked, got close to the Japanese line. Greig Laidlaw sniped from quick ball at a ruck and was almost over. Then the prop W P Nel forced his way, across the line – 28-14.

Gregor Townsend flooded the field with replacements. Two young forwards, Scott Cummings and Zander Fagerson brought renewed energy. Jamie Ritchie and Johnny Gray, who had both been excellent, became better still. Gray rampaged towards the try-line, fed Fagerson as he was tackled and the young prop was as unstoppable as an Aberdeen-Angus bull.

It was 28-21, with almost a quarter of the game to go. Scotland still needed a converted try to draw level, another seven pointer and then at least three more points from a penalty or drop goal to nudge ahead of Japan in the table and deny the host team a quarter-final place. It wasn’t impossible. It might not be beyond them. Scotland had what the police call “previous”. They had scored six second half tries at Twickenham in March after being 31-7 down at half-time.

This was the moment of truth for Japan, the real test of their mettle. Would they panic? Would they fold, as one has so often seen even good teams panic and fold when a comfortable lead starts slipping away?

Not a bit of it. They held their nerve, even briefly regaining the ascendancy. But Scotland kept coming as the minutes slipped away. Japan had been brilliant in attack. Now they were resolute and clever in defence. At almost the very end, a Scottish grubber kick forced Matsushima to carry the ball back over the try-line and concede a five-metre scrum. A converted try would have given Scotland a draw, and the partisan in me says they just about deserved it. Japan weren’t having it. Their place in the quarter-final was already assured, but that wasn’t enough. They held on to win, their grip in the last minute as tight as a bull terrier’s.

What a match! What a performance! They call football “the beautiful game”. Japan in Yokohama showed that rugby need yield to no other game for beauty. The great rugby theorist and coach Jim Greenwood, who played for Scotland and the Lions in the 1950s, used to teach what he called Total Rugby. That was what Japan played on Sunday in Yokohama. As it happens Greenwood, who was Sir Clive Woodward’s mentor, held coaching sessions in Japan, as he did all over the world –except, oddly, in Scotland. He died nine years ago, but if they have television in heaven, he will have been delighted to see his vision of Total Rugby realised by Japan.

Now they go on to play South Africa next weekend. They beat them in the World Cup in England four years ago. Can they do it again? This is a better South African side than the 2015 one. But then this Japanese side coached in masterly fashion by Jamie Joseph is better than the one then coached by Eddie Jones. The odds favour South Africa. Of course they do. But Japan are on an amazing journey. They’ve beaten Ireland and they’ve beaten Scotland. They have astonishing support, perhaps from the gods as well as from men and women, boys and girls. They are for the moment the world’s darlings. It’s surely too soon for their journey to end.

As for the Scots, defeat hurts of course, but they have cause for pride too. Many years ago, in 1959 perhaps, I remember Tom Kiernan, Irish full-back and Lions captain, being asked on the occasion of his fiftieth cap who was the greatest full-back he had played against. He answered immediately “Ken Scotland” and added “it was a privilege to be on the same field as him”. Well, when the Scottish players have licked their wounds, they may feel likewise: it was a privilege to have taken part in this match, a privilege to have been on the same field as this Japanese team on this day of all days, after the terrible destruction and loss of life caused by the typhoon.