Wisemantel takes positives from loss to Scotland

EDINBURGH (Nov. 10) – Japan stand-in coach Scott Wisemantel said he was proud of his team’s performance despite them being outscored six tries to two in Saturday’s 42-17 defeat to Scotland.

“We can take a lot of positives,” he said after the game. “We came to attack and run the ball. But our game tempo and control at certain stages let us down.”

However, he admitted that Japan’s inability to deal with the Scottish restarts had been one of the reasons they eventually lost the game.

“It’s an area we have to work on. We let ourselves down there today,” he said.

Japan captain Toshiaki Hirose said the team had enjoyed their stay in Edinburgh, but that at the end of the day he and his teammates were disappointed with the result.

“For 60 minutes we were level with the,” he said. “We need to find a way to play for the full 80 minutes.”

Wisemantel said that the team had been given certain goals ahead of the tour and that the defeat would prove to be a good lesson.

“We said we had to grow up, show some tactical savvy and gamesmanship,” he said. I think we did some of that today and also showed we could adapt to the referee’s interpretation.”

However, he said there were times when the team should have slowed the game down a little more, particularly when they had a man in the sin bin.

He also said that with hindsight perhaps Japan should have kicked a little more.

“We did mention it to Kosei (Ono) at halftime,” he said. “But the players chose to run the ball and that shows a fair bit of courage.”

Scotland coach Scott Johnson said he was happy with the win and praised the Japan effort.

“It was a good test match,” he said. “I said before that Japan are a formidable team and they showed they are a good rugby nation. They contributed to a reasonable spectacle.”