Scotland 29-20 Japan
Scotland completed their Autumn Nations Series with a third victory from the four test matches, but they had to work exceptionally hard to see off a resilient Japan at BT Murrayfield this afternoon.
Scotland’s margin was four tries to one – through Duhan Van Der Merwe, Stuart Hogg, Dary Graham and Stuart McInally – and while it never seemed they were in danger of losing, they were once again on the wrong end of the penalty count. Discipline will clearly come under the microscope as the coaches plan for the 2022 GUINNESS Six Nations Championship.
Head coach Gregor Townsend had said at the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation anniversary dinner last night that Scotland reckoned their driving maul had proved fruitful and so it proved today with two of the four tries originating from that facet of their game.
Hogg, winning his 88th cap, and already secure in his place in the game’s folklore, wrote an epic new chapter by breaking Scotland’s all-time try scoring record. He now stands alone with 25 tries for his country, surpassing the previous milestone held jointly by Tony Stanger and Ian Smith.

Stuart Hogg: Scotland’s chart topper with 25 tries -
Year-by-year
2012 v France (h)
2013 v England (a); v Italy (h)
2014 v France (h); v USA (a); v Arg (a) ; v Arg (h); v Tonga (h)
2015 v Wales (h).
2016 v France (h); v Ireland (a); v Georgia (2) (h)
2017 v Ireland (2) (h); v France (a); v Samoa (h)
2018 v Italy (a).
2019 v Italy (h).
2020 v Italy (a).
2021 v Wales (2)(h); South Africa (2)(h) and Japan (h)

Japan kicked off towards Roseburn Park and Finn Russell had an early touch. The visitors then recycled through 18 phases – largely within their own territory – before scrum-half Yutaka Nagare, a livewire throughout, opted to launch a box kick, but his colleagues were in front.
First penalty to Scotland then and another soon followed under the sticks around 18 metres out and Russell right-footed the ball to the East Stand touchline.
Scott Cummings, on his return after injury, won the ball and the Scotland maul had its first outing of the afternoon. Japan held firm initially, but from the secondary surge Duhan Van Der Merwe muscled over for his ninth try for Scotland. Russell’s conversion came back off the post (5-0, 6 mins).
Japan were certainly going through the phases and when Scotland were pinged for going to deck, stand-off Rikiya Matsuda, landed their first points with a penalty. (5-3, 10 mins).
Four minutes later Chris Harris loitered after a tackle but from a tight channel on the East Stand touchline Matsuda pushed his kick wide.
At the first scrum, in the 16th minute, Scotland put down a marker with a concerted heave which bequeathed a penalty. Lineout won by Grant Gilchrist and subsequent maul set up possession for Ali Price and Sam Johnson’s chip through was pursued by Harris only for left wing Siosaia Fifita to cover in the nick of time.
Harris made two pulverising tackles as Japan continued to have the majority of ball and from a long-range break from Kotaro Matsushima, Scotland conceded their sixth penalty of the afternoon thus far. Matsuda goaled (5-6, 25 mins).
Scotland were stung into response and captain Hogg was at its heart. Firstly, he blazed left to right and found Harris’ long-striding support . Scotland kept their composure and with Gilchrist providing a vital link, Russell dispatch Hogg for his record-breaking 25th Scotland try, a wonderful moment for the most capped full-back in the world game. Russell converted (12-6, 27 mins).
Scotland ended the half strongly too. Russell’s dexterity, first hinting at a pass and then firing through a kick, set up a scrum for Scotland. Price and Josh Bayliss interchanged, and Russell then arced menacingly in space to release Darcy Graham. The winger had to check momentarily to collect but his finish was class, his tenth try for Scotland. Russell converted (19-6, 40 mins).
Half-time: Scotland 19 Japan 6
Scotland were continuing to earn the referee’s displeasure with two early penalties on their debit column on the restart. From the second of which Jamie Bhatti was sin binned for not rolling away. Matsuda’s goal gave the visitors their first score of the half (19-9, 42 mins).
A Russell kick over a flat defence was gathered by the Japanese who then strung together a blistering attack, which Scotland did well to withstand. Referee Pickerill deemed the hosts offside, and Matsuda landed again (19-12, 46 mins).
An offside penalty this time against Japan enabled Russell to fire Scotland to within five metres. Stuart McInally, just on for George Turner, hit Gilchrist with the throw and then got on the end of the driving maul for a rather tasty introduction to the game – his 11th try for Scotland. Russell converted (26-12, 54 mins).
In amidst the usual flurry of substitutes, Japan kept themselves just about in contention. Ryoto Nakamura’s rousing touchfinder – a 50/22 – seemed initially to have been pirated by Cummings but the ball was regained by Japan and Tevita Tatafu crashed over for an unconverted try (26-17, 64 mins), verified by the TMO.
The impression that the game was still not yet secure was confirmed as Matsuda thumped over his fifth penalty. (26-20, 72 mins).
As the clock ticked down the chance fell to Scotland to put some daylight between the teams and Russell’s penalty took him beyond the 200 points mark for his country (29-20, 78 mins).
Full time: Scotland 29 Japan 20
Scotland: Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs) CAPTAIN; Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby), Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors), Duhan Van Der Merwe (Worcester Warriors); Finn Russell (Racing 92), Ali Price; Jamie Bhatti, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Scott Cummings (all Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson (all Edinburgh Rugby), Josh Bayliss (Bath Rugby).
Subs: Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh Rugby) for Watson (48 mins) and then for Bhatti (53 mins), Stuart McInally (Edinburgh Rugby), for Turner (53 mins) Javan Sebastian (Scarlets) for Zander Fagerson (62 mins), Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) for Cummings (71 mins), Dylan Richardson (Cell C Sharks) for Watson (71 mins), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) for Ritchie (61 mins), George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) for Price (61 mins), Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh Rugby) for Graham (62 mins)
Yellow card: Jamie Bhatti (42 mins).
Japan: Ryohei Yamanaka; Kotaro Matsushima, Shogo Nakano, Ryoto Nakamura, Siosaia Fifita; Rikiya Matsuda, Yutaka Nagare; Craig Millar, Atsushi Sakate, Asaeli Ai Valu, Jack Cornelsen, James Moore, Michael Leitch, Pieter Labuschagne CAPTAIN, Kazuki Himeno.
Subs: Kosuke Horikoshi, Keita Inagaki for Millar (61 mins) Shinnosuke Kakinaga for Ai Valu (61 mins), Ben Gunter, Tevita Tatafu for Leitch (61 mins) Naoto Saito for Nagare (71 mins), Yu Tamura for Yamanaka (61 mins), Dylan Riley for Nakano (40 mins).
Referee: Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand). Assistant Referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Andrea Piardi (Italy). TMO: Stuart Berry (South Africa).
Attendance: 67,144
Deliveroo Player of the Match: Chris Harris (Scotland)

live commentary 1:00 PM Saturday 20 Nov 2021
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Scotland
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Blair Kinghorn
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George Horne
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Matt Fagerson
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Dylan Richardson
20. Replacement1metres gained
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Sam Skinner
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Javan Sebastian
18. Replacement4metres gained
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Pierre Schoeman
17. Replacement20metres gained
32MINUTES PLAYED
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Stuart McInally
16. Replacement6metres gained
26MINUTES PLAYED
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Josh Bayliss
8. Number 832metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
15TACKLES MADE
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Hamish Watson
7. Back-row2metres gained
66MINUTES PLAYED
12TACKLES MADE
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Jamie Ritchie
6. Back-row4metres gained
61MINUTES PLAYED
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Grant Gilchrist
5. Second-row8metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
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Scott Cummings
4. Second-row1metres gained
71MINUTES PLAYED
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Zander Fagerson
3. Tighthead prop3metres gained
62MINUTES PLAYED
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George Turner
2. Hooker4metres gained
54MINUTES PLAYED
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Jamie Bhatti
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42MINUTES PLAYED
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Ali Price
9. Scrum-half0metres gained
61MINUTES PLAYED
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53COMPLETE PASSES
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Finn Russell
10. Stand-off6metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
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28COMPLETE PASSES
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Duhan van der Merwe
11. Wing6metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
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Sam Johnson
12. Inside-centre10metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
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Chris Harris
13. Outside-centre44metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
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Darcy Graham
14. Wing39metres gained
62MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
1COMPLETE PASSES
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Stuart Hogg
15. Full-back60metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
3TACKLES MADE
10COMPLETE PASSES
Japan
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Ryohei Yamanaka
15. Full-back42metres gained
61MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
11COMPLETE PASSES
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Kotaro Matsushima
14. Wing73metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
9COMPLETE PASSES
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Shogo Nakano
13. Outside-centre0metres gained
40MINUTES PLAYED
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Ryoto Nakamura
12. Inside-centre13metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
10COMPLETE PASSES
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Siosaia Fifita
11. Wing102metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
6TACKLES MADE
6COMPLETE PASSES
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Rikiya Matsuda
10. Stand-off34metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
44COMPLETE PASSES
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Yutaka Nagare
9. Scrum-half10metres gained
71MINUTES PLAYED
2TACKLES MADE
85COMPLETE PASSES
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Craig Millar
1. Loosehead prop28metres gained
61MINUTES PLAYED
9TACKLES MADE
3COMPLETE PASSES
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Atsushi Sakate
2. Hooker14metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
8COMPLETE PASSES
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Asaeli Ai Valu
3. Tighthead prop2metres gained
61MINUTES PLAYED
7TACKLES MADE
5COMPLETE PASSES
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Jack Cornelsen
4. Second-row4metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
6COMPLETE PASSES
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James Moore
5. Second-row14metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
10TACKLES MADE
7COMPLETE PASSES
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Michael Leitch
6. Back-row7metres gained
61MINUTES PLAYED
8TACKLES MADE
6COMPLETE PASSES
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Pieter Labuschagne
7. Back-row33metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
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Kazuki Himeno
8. Number 843metres gained
80MINUTES PLAYED
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Kosuke Horikoshi
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Keita Inagaki
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Shinnosuke Kakinaga
18. Replacement5metres gained
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Ben Gunter
19. Replacement0metres gained
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Tevita Tatafu
20. Replacement5metres gained
19MINUTES PLAYED
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Naoto Saito
21. Replacement0metres gained
9MINUTES PLAYED
0TACKLES MADE
6COMPLETE PASSES
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Yu Tamura
22. Replacement17metres gained
19MINUTES PLAYED
5TACKLES MADE
2COMPLETE PASSES
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Dylan Riley
23. Replacement6metres gained
40MINUTES PLAYED
11TACKLES MADE
4COMPLETE PASSES
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