This was a game with far more positives than negatives, more good performances than bad, more reasons for optimism than concern.

No, Japan are not in the front rank of Test playing nations just yet, but they have caused many of those top sides problems in recent years and they came to Murrayfield with nothing other than victory on their minds.

But Scotland, to their immense credit, demolished that notion with a second-half performance that should put a spring in their steps over the next few days as they prepare to face South Africa next Sunday.

The Springboks will be a massive challenge, very different to what Japan offered up, but Scott Johnson will relish the fact he is working with players who are now in a positive frame of mind. Like any coach, he will be glad to have things to work on, but the mood in the Scotland camp should be upbeat.

In many ways, it was a typical first Test match. No matter how hard the players prepare or how well they study the opposition, there is always something tentative in a team's performance when they step over the whitewash to play the first game of an international series. Nothing quite makes sense until it is put to the test in that arena, but the Scots can be satisfied that most of their components were working well by the end.

They misfired a little in the opening stages, but that is only to be expected. Japan looked confident and Scotland's first task was to subdue that exuberance. As a result, the first half was a cautious affair as the players tried to find their feet -- which couldn't have been easy on that pitch -- and seemed anxious not to make mistakes.

By the end, though, they were clearly feeling good about themselves and they put Japan away impressively. It is worth remembering that they went into the game without Tim Visser and Stuart Hogg, their two most potent finishers of the past couple of seasons, and yet the came out of it with six tries.

Tommy Seymour had the sort of Murrayfield debut that players can only dream of, and I was hugely impressed by the nerveless way he finished off his chances.

Overall, though, I thought the thrust of their back play came mostly from the two Seans, Maitland and Lamont, who showed their class and top-level experience in the way they took the game to the Japanese. Johnson will be very satisfied by all of his selection calls, and most satisfied of all with the performance of Tim Swinson, who has to be one of the hardest working forwards Scotland have unearthed for many a year.

Beyond individual performances, however, what was even more pleasing was the collective composure the team showed. When Japan came back to within one point with Kenki Fukuoka's second try, the Scots could so easily have lost their heads, but they kept their shape and their discipline, confident they were the better side and their advantages would shine through.

And so they did. It reminded me of a game I was involved in at the World Cup in 1995. We were playing Tonga in Pretoria, and we found ourselves under pressure in the middle of the game. However we regrouped and refused to be rattled. We had the belief in ourselves to cope with the setbacks and pull away for a comfortable win at the end.

That Scotland did not panic yesterday has to be a reason for satisfaction. They were clinical and thorough and they claimed the win with a very professional performance. At this level, patience is everything; you have to stick within your systems and wait for chances to appear. And if things go wrong, as they did on a couple of occasions with worrying defensive lapses, you have to keep that level-headedness or you will simply compound the damage.

Two tough matches await, far tougher than this one. But they laid the foundations of a good series yesterday. Scotland have put in some good performances against South Africa in recent years, and they should now be confident they can deliver another next weekend.