sjc

How the mighty have fallen!

Scotland, plays in a tier 1 tournament and by tradition and tradition only, gets access to play tier 1 teams in tests. Japan doesn't have that luxury. Don't shoot the messenger. Japan have won more games in the last 2 WCs than they did in the first 7 tournaments combined.

It not really though, is it now.

I'll have to take your word for that. It certainly is game back on......we might be regretting that come HT v NZ in a week or so time!

28-28 draw, anyone?!

Why wouldn't you "big up" a tier 2 Nation beating a traditional tier 1 Nation?

That bag stays in the cup longer.....

We seem to be a Nation that rests on its laurels, happy and content that we used to be good at sport. There's something fundamentally wrong with not just how we develop talent but how we nurture their psychology. This is even more embarrassing than the football team.

And the hits just keep on coming!

It relatively cool temperature wise, so we don't even have heat/humidity as an excuse!

Drinking, we should stick to drinking.

Is it too late to get the game cancelled?

Say what you like about the refs performance, it doesn't hide the fact that Scotland are playing utter shite.

That should never have been penalised!

I think this is the game we would have got 4 years ago if Japan had the luxury of a full weeks rest like we had. The Australia performance papered over a lot of crack in our World Cup last time imo.

That tackle is no different to the Irish sending off imo.

Scotland are so Jekyll and Hyde. We're like a poorer version of France!

Some offload for the try!

...... spoke too soon!

Be interesting to see if we can maintain allowing Japan all this possession.

As well as that clause, the contract stated that there were "robust contingency plans" in place to get as many games as possible played if conditions were bad. It turned out they were total bollocks as the plans for Yokohama and Tokyo were that they were the back up for each other, despite being only 14 miles apart. The bulk of Japan's populated areas are in close proximity. A bit like Scotland's central belt.

Rock and a hard place, eh?! Hopefully Italy or Argentina get the tournament soon.

I don't disagree but the stadium might not be available. Most are shared with other sports. It should have been held in December imo.

Going forward, do you think there should be another round of qualifiers before the finals in order to reduce the groups to 4 Nations? That way a rest week could cope for any contingencies?

There are roads, railways and bridges across the country. That type of infrastructure won't be back up and running in a day or two. Some Prefectures still don't have power from the previous typhoon last month. The geography of Japan means that most of the venues have been directly affected. Sapporo? No can do, there's a baseball game on this weekend/week. Fukuoka? Possibly but getting thousands of ticketed spectators there would be an issue. I don't give a f**k if you think I'm advertising that I live in Japan. I've never made any secret of it but take it from someone with firsthand experience of the daily threat of typhoons, earthquakes and tsunamis, it takes more than a few days to get things back up and running.