“It’s been an awesome journey from when I injured my neck in June until now”, said Vermeulen.
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“I thought we were outstanding for the duration”. They were starting to blow while we were starting to hold onto the ball and put them under some pressure. They could have scored a couple of times.
While their opponents had kicked everything within sight of the posts, Michael Leitch, Japan’s captain, won applause when he told Goromaru to go for the corner. Watching everyone else play has been nerve-wracking for players.
Eddie Jones’ fearless Blossoms had stunned the world by beating two-time champions South Africa in Brighton on Saturday.
At the other end, Scotland’s skipper Greig Laidlaw was all but faultless with the boot, landing four penalties to give his side an important half-time lead.
“It was one of the most hard decisions in my life to make”, Meyer said.
We need to accept that we have the team and the coach for the rest of the tournament and that they are our team and our coach and our only chance at achieving something glorious. Credit to them for holding out. “They were too good for us”.
“As well coached as they were, we didn’t fully understand what they would bring”, he said.
Laidlaw, though, ensured his team was not behind for long with two more flawless kicks as Japanese discipline – so clean against South Africa – began to fray at the edges. We still believe and have a lot of trust in the team.
John Hardie needed stitches to a cut in his right ear, but otherwise Scotland appeared to emerge from the game with a clean bill of health.
Russell then got in on the act as he collected a short pass from Laidlaw after a five-yard scrum and danced his way over for the firth touchdown. The evidence from the second half was all to the contrary, but he insisted that Scotland had simply been better.
“He said “I’m going to play 80 minutes if that’s what it’s going to take to win”.
South Africa’s sports minister warned the team to turn their poor World Cup start on its head, while Meyer greeted defeat to Japan by claiming the Springboks had let down their country.
“We’re a fit team”.
Trailing 12-7, Japan had the better start in the second half and they closed the gap to two mere points thanks to a penalty from Goromaru.
“What happened against Japan just wasn’t good enough”.
“The four-day turnaround will be hard…” We’ve had our fun on social media, we’ve all shared the jokes and the demeaning images.
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Laidlaw quickly restored Scotland’s advantage with another pair of penalties before Japan had wing Kotaro Matsushima sin-binned for an illegal steal.
