IT IS now 371 days since the season began for the Scotland squad with their pre-World-Cup camp in the Pyrenees, but Greig Laidlaw remains convinced that the team still have the energy to end on a high when they meet Japan in Saturday's second Test. Duncan Taylor has had to go home because of a hamstring injury, but the fact he will not be replaced is testament to the readiness of the other centres to return to the fray one more time.
"It has been a long season for everybody," captain Greig Laidlaw said yesterday. "We played Japan pretty much a year ago in the World Cup and here we are still going, but we are not going to take our eye off the ball. We have also been clever in the way we have trained. We have not overdone it as it is hot here. That is part of the challenge."
The reward for Scotland's win against Japan last weekend has been to move up a place in the world rankings to eighth. It is important since if they are able to maintain it, they will get a top seeding at the next World Cup. To do that, however, they are going to have to keep winning, starting this weekend.
"I think we can," said Laidlaw. "We have looked at the two Japan games and three in the autumn as a mini-series of five and have got off to a good start. Everybody can see we have moved a long way forward in over a year and we can slowly nudge that up.
"Every time you get to pull on a Scotland jersey is a huge honour. This game is massive because if we win we can look back on this season as being a fairly good season. It's very important to finish on the right note as you always remember your last game. We want to come off the field with a win, go home, reassess and be ready for November."
The squad for the second Test is now complete with Gordon Reid having arrived to replace Alasdair Dickinson at prop after literally being called off the beach at Ayr to fly to the team's rescue. He did not even know there was a chance of a call-up, since he had set up the recorder and taken the family out when it was on live.
At least he has some idea of how to cope with the conditions, having made his international debut in the USA in even more severe conditions two years ago. "Houston was a bit hotter than this, but still the the humidity was horrendous," Reid recalled. "I hope that puts me in good stead for this game."
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