In June 2016, the Scotland rugby union team toured Japan, their first tour of the Eastern Asian country since 1989. Scotland went into the tour on the back of two victories and a fourth-place finish in the 2016 Six Nations Championship while Japan entered the series following an eleventh consecutive Asia Rugby Championship title, and a test match against Canada. With the Brave Blossoms new head coach Jamie Joseph not taking over until August 2016, the Sunwolves head coach Mark Hammett acted as caretaker coach for the two-test series.
Fixtures Date and time Venue Home Score Away 18 June 2016, 19:20 JST (UTC+09) Toyota Stadium, Toyota, Aichi 13–26 25 June 2016, 19:20 JST (UTC+09) Ajinomoto Stadium, Chōfu, Tokyo 16–21
Squads Note: Ages, caps and clubs are as per 18 June, the first test match of the tour.
Japan On 30 May, caretaker coach Mark Hammett named a 33-man squad for Japan's June tests against Canada and Scotland.
On 1 June, Kyosuke Horie and Shokei Kin were added to the squad for the Canadian test on 11 June.
Coaching team: Head coach: Mark Hammett (Caretaker) Backs coach: Atsushi Tanabe Forwards coach: Filo Tiatia Defence coach: Nathan Mauger
Scotland On 9 May 2016, Vern Cotter named a 27-man squad for Scotland's June two-test series against Japan.
On 16 May, Matt Scott was called up to the squad to replace the injured Alex Dunbar.
On 19 May, Sean Lamont was called up to the squad to replace the injured Tim Visser.
On 27 May, uncapped Huw Jones was called up to the squad to replace the injured Finn Russell.
On 19 June, Gordon Reid was called up to the squad to replace the injured Alasdair Dickinson.
Coaching team: Head coach: Vern Cotter Defence coach: Matt Taylor Attack/Backs coach: Jason O'Halloran Forwards coach: Jonathan Humphreys
Matches First test
FB 15Kotaro Matsushima RW 14Mifiposeti PaeaOC 13Tim BennettsIC 12Harumichi TatekawaLW 11Yasutaka SasakuraFH 10Yu TamuraSH 9 Kaito Shigeno N8 8 Amanaki MafiOF 7 Shokei KinBF 6 Hendrik Tui RL 5 Naohiro KotakiLL 4 Hitoshi OnoTP 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama HK 2 Shota Horie (c)LP 1 Keita InagakiReplacements:HK 16Takeshi KizuPR 17Masataka MikamiPR 18Shinnosuke Kakinaga LK 19Kotaro YatabeFL 20Hiroki Yamamoto SH 21Keisuke Uchida FH 22Kosei OnoFB 23Rikiya Matsuda Coach: Mark Hammett FB 15Stuart HoggRW 14Tommy SeymourOC 13Duncan Taylor IC 12Matt ScottLW 11Damien Hoyland FH 10Ruaridh JacksonSH 9 Greig Laidlaw (c)N8 8 Ryan Wilson OF 7 John HardieBF 6 John BarclayRL 5 Jonny GrayLL 4 Richie Gray TP 3 WP Nel HK 2 Stuart McInally LP 1 Alasdair Dickinson Replacements:HK 16Fraser Brown PR 17Rory Sutherland PR 18Moray Low LK 19Tim Swinson N8 20David Denton SH 21Henry PyrgosCE 22Peter Horne WG 23Sean Maitland Coach: Vern Cotter Touch judges: Marius Mitrea (Italy) Brendan Pickerill (New Zealand) Television match official: Ian Smith (Australia)
Second test
FB 15Rikiya Matsuda RW 14Male Sa'uOC 13Tim Bennetts IC 12Harumichi TatekawaLW 11Yasutaka SasakuraFH 10Yu TamuraSH 9 Kaito Shigeno N8 8 Amanaki MafiOF 7 Shokei KinBF 6 Hendrik Tui RL 5 Naohiro KotakiLL 4 Hitoshi Ono TP 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama HK 2 Shota Horie (c) LP 1 Keita Inagaki Replacements:HK 16Takeshi Kizu PR 17Masataka Mikami PR 18Shinnosuke Kakinaga LK 19Kotaro Yatabe N8 20Koliniasi Holani SH 21Keisuke Uchida FH 22Kosei Ono CE 23Mifiposeti Paea Coach: Mark Hammett FB 15Stuart HoggRW 14Tommy SeymourOC 13Matt ScottIC 12Peter HorneLW 11Sean Maitland FH 10Ruaridh Jackson SH 9 Henry Pyrgos (c) N8 8 Ryan Wilson OF 7 John Barclay BF 6 Josh StraussRL 5 Jonny GrayLL 4 Richie GrayTP 3 Moray Low HK 2 Stuart McInally LP 1 Rory Sutherland Replacements:HK 16Fraser Brown PR 17Gordon Reid PR 18WP Nel LK 19Tim Swinson FL 20John Hardie SH 21Greig Laidlaw CE 22Huw Jones WG 23Sean Lamont Coach: Vern Cotter Touch judges: Ben O'Keeffe (New Zealand) Brendan Pickerill (New Zealand) Television match official: Ian Smith (Australia) Notes: Huw Jones (Scotland) made his international debut. The 31,392 crowd was a record home crowd for a Japanese rugby international.
Japan warm-up match On 11 June, Japan played away to Canada in the lead up to the Scottish series.
Team details FB 15Matt EvansRW 14Dan MoorOC 13Brock StallerIC 12Nick BlevinsLW 11Taylor Paris FH 10Pat Parfrey SH 9 Gordon McRorieN8 8 Aaron Carpenter OF 7 Lucas Rumball BF 6 Kyle Baillie RL 5 Evan OlmsteadLL 4 Jamie Cudmore (c) TP 3 Jake Ilnicki HK 2 Ray Barkwill LP 1 Djustice Sears-DuruReplacements:HK 16Eric Howard PR 17Tom Dolezel PR 18Matt TierneyLK 19Paul Ciulini FL 20Matt Heaton FL 21Alistair Clark SH 22Jamie Mackenzie CE 23Mozac Samson Coach: Mark Anscombe FB 15Kotaro MatsushimaRW 14Mifiposeti PaeaOC 13Tim Bennetts IC 12Harumichi Tatekawa (c)LW 11Yasutaka Sasakura FH 10Yu TamuraSH 9 Fumiaki Tanaka N8 8 Kyosuke HorieOF 7 Taiyo Ando BF 6 Yoshiya Hosoda RL 5 Naohiro KotakiLL 4 Kazuhiko Usami TP 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama HK 2 Takeshi KizuLP 1 Keita InagakiReplacements:HK 16Futoshi MoriPR 17Masataka MikamiPR 18Shinnosuke Kakinaga LK 19Kotaro Yatabe FL 20Shokei Kin SH 21Kaito Shigeno FH 22Kosei Ono FB 23Rikiya Matsuda Coach: Mark Hammett Man of the Match: Djustice Sears-Duru (Canada)
Touch judges: Kurt Weaver (United States) Derek Summers (United States) Television match official: David Smortchevsky (Canada) Notes: Matt Heaton (Canada) and Yoshiya Hosoda, Rikiya Matsuda, Mifiposeti Paea, Yasutaka Sasakura and Kaito Shigeno (all Japan) made their international debuts.
Statistics Key Con: Conversions Pen: Penalties DG: Drop goals Pts: Points
Scotland Statistics NamePlayedTriesConPenDGPtsGreig Laidlaw2028028––Henry Pyrgos103009––WP Nel210005––John Barclay200000––Fraser Brown200000––Jonny Gray200000––Richie Gray200000––John Hardie200000––Stuart Hogg200000––Peter Horne200000––Ruaridh Jackson200000––Moray Low200000––Sean Maitland200000––Stuart McInally200000––Matt Scott200000––Tommy Seymour200000––Rory Sutherland200000––Tim Swinson200000––Ryan Wilson200000––David Denton100000––Alasdair Dickinson100000––Huw Jones100000––Damien Hoyland100000––Sean Lamont100000––Gordon Reid100000––Josh Strauss100000––Duncan Taylor100000––Alex Dunbar–––––0––Ross Ford–––––0––Finn Russell–––––0––Tim Visser–––––0––
Tour statistics NameTeamTriesConPenDGPtsGreig Laidlaw028028Yu Tamura025019Henry Pyrgos00309Shota Horie10005WP Nel10005Kaito Shigeno10005
See also 2016 mid-year rugby union internationals Mid-year rugby union tests
References
External links Scotland Rugby Team – the official site of the Scotland national team