Allan Massie: Mouthy coaches give hostages to fortune

Eddie Jones: Bold claims unfounded. Picture: Getty

EDDIE Jones didn’t, I think, offer the four-day turn-round as an excuse for what was eventually a heavy defeat. Just as well – he would have looked a fool if he had done so after his talk about Scotland being a side that couldn’t score second-half points and his assertion that his Japanese team were fitter than the Scots and would outlast them. Mouthy coaches always give hostages to fortune.

For much of the game Japan played well. Actually they played as Scotland have often done, before eventually losing by a wide margin. That’s to say, they had lots of possession, spent long periods in the opposition 22, but only once found a way to score. Perhaps they suffered as Scotland did against Wales this spring from “white line fever”.

In contrast, Scotland were composed. This was rope-a-dope rugby: absorb the pressure and then strike hard. Perhaps Vern Cotter had had them watching a video of the Ali-Foreman fight? From the moment the excellent John Hardie scored the first try the result was assured – even though we made a dreadful mess of the restart. Some of the commentators on our website have said that Hardie silenced his detractors. I don’t think he had detractors in the sense that people questioned his ability. It was the propriety of his selection that was in doubt. Well, there will be no more of that, just as there wasn’t when John and Martin Leslie who also arrived by, as it were, parachute immediately proved their worth and commitment.