A WIN’S a win, but take away the 13 minutes or so when Japan were short-handed, and this was a match that probably posed more questions for the Scots than for the home team.

Japan had come in with a raft of changes to their World Cup side and fulfilled their ritual role of being brave but ultimately out- powered, but Scotland could never find the spark to put them away.

The result was a match that might have slipped away from them, had it not been for that crucial period either side of half-time when the hosts were first down one man, then gave away a penalty try and a second yellow card, and then conceded another score to WP Nel with only 13 defenders there. “It is good to get over the line,” the prop said. “It was a physical game and we made a lot of mistakes, and gave away too many penalties at the wrong time, but there was good stuff to take away. We need to get quicker to the breakdown and not give away silly penalties.”

In the end, 14 points came Scotland’s way when Japan were short of players, and they won by 13. As they say in America, do the math.

Yet, as Vern Cotter, the head coach, pointed out, the penalty count was mainly a question of Scottish pressure, particularly their turnover count at rucks, pushing the Japanese players to cheat to try to stop them. The end result was a perfect six out of six kicks for Greig Laidlaw, the captain and scrum-half, whose 16 points from four penalties and two conversions made sure Scotland got their noses in front and kept them there after going behind to an inspired try from the home side in the first quarter.

That came when Scotland were penalised, with Japan taking a quick tap to catch the visitors’ defence napping. Amanaki Mafi hurtled down the wing, Harumichi Tatekawa was there in support and suddenly the try line was open. It took a ruck and quick possession to turn the chance into a try, with Shota Horie, the captain, rumbling over. But with Yu Tamura, the fly-half, adding the conversion, Japan had an early and deserved lead.

Laidlaw got his side back in front with his third penalty, but it was the decision to sinbin Hendrik Tui, who had been harshly warned for coming in the side of a maul and then blatantly repeated the offence, that really turned the game. Against 14 men, Scotland started to pound the home line until they created space for Stuart Hogg, whose pass would have put Tommy Seymour in had the ball not been slapped away by Rikiya Matsuda. The replacement full-back was promptly sinbinned as his team-mates trooped under the posts while Laidlaw converted the penalty try.

“It was definitely a penalty try,” Laidlaw said afterwards. “They were in trouble outside. If he [Matsuda] hadn’t slapped that down, Tommy would have been in in the corner.

“The first card was from a driving maul: Tui came in from the side and the referee deemed it to be a yellow card. They always help. We were in the ascendancy, they infringed and the referee felt it was a fair reflection.”

With 13 men against them, Scotland turned the screw enough to get a second try. Nel barged over from short range, and Laidlaw added the conversion to give Scotland a cushion that they maintained to the end, with Laidlaw and Tamura exchanging penalties once it was back to 15 v 15.

“I’m happy with the result, but there are certain parts of the content, when we have a look at it, that I’m sure we’ll want to improve,” Cotter said. “We got the essential, which was a victory, and we created a number of opportunities. Another week together will help improve cohesion and help to get some of those opportunities to stick.

“Our set-piece held up. There were a couple of balls lost. Our defensive lineout was okay. Our discipline was probably key to it.

“We made more errors and they turned over a fair number of balls to us, which enabled us to relieve pressure. Our presence at ruck time was good.

“We couldn’t string certain things together, but there are ingredients there that will help us play big games and keep possession for longer.”

The win may come at a price, however. Alasdair Dickinson picked up a a hamstring injury and left the field in the third minute, Duncan Taylor is also an injury doubt, and, although Nel claimed he was fine, he looked anything but fit when he limped off the field.

Cotter said he could not comment on them until he had had a better medical update – but don’t be surprised if at least one replacement is spotted heading for Japan within the next few hours.

“Fits and starts,” was Laidlaw’s pithy analysis. “Sometimes we were good, sometimes we weren’t. I don’t know if we switched off because we’ve not played for that length of time. We’ll look to tighten up in a few areas next week to make sure that is not the case.”

Scorers: Japan: Try: Horie. Con: Tamura. Pens: Tamura 2.

Scotland: Tries: penalty try, Nel. Cons: Laidlaw 2. Pens: Laidlaw 4.

Japan: K Matsushima (R Matsuda 17); P Paea, T Bennetts, H Tatekawa, Y Sasakura; Y Tamura, K Shigeno (K Uchida 48); K Inagaki, S Horie, K Hatakeyama (S Kakinaga 53), H Ono, N Kotaki, H Tui (H Yamamoto 78), S Kin, A Mafi.

Scotland: S Hogg; T Seymour, D Taylor (P Horne 66), M Scott, D Hoyland; R Jackson, G Laidlaw; A Dickinson (R Sutherland 3), S McInally (F Brown 48), W Nel (M Low 64), R Gray (T Swinson 66), J Gray, J Barclay, J Hardie, R Wilson (D Denton 64).

Referee: B O'Keefe (New Zealand). Attendance: 24,113.