FORGET the Rugby World Cup, but remember the Six Nations. That, in a nutshell, will be the message to the Scotland squad this week as they prepare for the first of their two Tests against Japan.

Forget the World Cup, because although Vern Cotter’s squad beat the Japanese 45-10 in their opening game of the campaign, a lot has changed since then. Perhaps most pertinently, Japan will have had a lot of time to get ready for this mini-series, whereas last year they had only four days to recover from their historic victory over South Africa before meeting Scotland in Gloucester.

Remember the Six Nations, because there were a lot of positive aspects of those five matches to build on, in particular in attack. And also because there were some frustrating inconsistencies that need to be ironed out over the coming fortnight if Scotland are to maintain the undoubted progress they made in spring.

Unlike the tourists, Japan may well be keen to keep last year’s tournament in the forefront of their minds. It would certainly be understandable if they chose to nurse a sense of grievance about the punitive scheduling inflicted upon them, without which they might well have made it into the quarter-finals. As it was, they had to settle for the frustrating yet still significant honour of being the first team to fail to qualify for the knockout stages despite winning three group games.

While Scotland hope to display some continuity from the Six Nations, the home team may have a very different look from the way they were in England last autumn. Eddie Jones, the mastermind of their triumph over the Springboks, is now in the hot seat at Twickenham, of course, with New Zealander Mark Hammett in charge as a caretaker.

Yet whatever the altered circumstances since the teams last met, the Scotland squad are under no illusions about the difficulty of the challenge that awaits them on Saturday in Toyota City then a week later in Tokyo. “They’re a few months down the line from the World Cup - they have obviously learned stuff as a squad together,” said Duncan Taylor, the Saracens centre who missed the World Cup through injury but has since become one of the most influential members of the Scotland squad.

“I think they’ll be a force to be reckoned with on home soil - they’ll be a massive test. I think they’re ranked tenth in the world at the moment and we’re ranked ninth, so we have to be on point and we have to be on the money if we’re going to win both those Tests.

“I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve been through a few things this week that we think they might throw at us. It’s been a challenge. We’ll see if we get more of an idea of what they’re up to when they play this weekend, but yeah, looking forward to playing.”

“It’s all about developing that feeling in this squad - us all feeling confident that we can go into games, that we can beat these big teams. On the back of the World Cup and the Six Nations we know what we’re capable of, it’s just about stringing those wins together and keep working hard for each other.

“We need to kick on from the Six Nations. We can’t change what happened there, but we all felt there were a couple of games that got away from us, where we weren’t quite clinical enough and weren't quite good enough in that final third. We had a couple of games that we improved on, and this game is an opportunity to keep progressing.”

As ever, if Scotland score a barrel of tries en route to notching up a couple of resounding victories, so much the better. But, while eager to develop the impressive style that took them to victories over France and Italy earlier in the year, the tourists remain convinced that positive results are more important than panache.

“Absolutely we want to win both Tests - that’s first and foremost,” Taylor continued. “Obviously on the performance side of things we all want to put in a good performance, try a few things, just get out there and express ourselves in the best way possible. Just represent the jersey and represent what Scotland is all about - but, yeah, first and foremost come the wins.”

At the end of a long season, there is a case for giving players a rest - but it is not one which finds favour with the 26-year-old. For him, summer tours still have a vital part to play in the evolution of a team.

“I think they’re very important,” he added. “They’re important to get guys together, which is important because you’re around each other 24/7 on these tours so you get to know each other very well. On the playing side, it’s really important to try and keep a bit of continuity, which means playing together – you don’t want to go big stretches without playing some games with each other. So yes, they’re very beneficial.”