WITH Duncan Taylor's injury forcing the coaches to make changes to the back division that took on Japan in the first Test, it seems that Vern Cotter is about to blood a new cap on this tour after all.

Not that he needed a lot of forcing. All the signs were that he was looking to bring in Huw Jones as soon as possible and might have done in the first Test if the player had not arrived in camp with a niggling toe injury that took longer than hoped to clear up.

In the end, Jones could have played in the last Test at a stretch, but as a newcomer to the squad it was no time to be introducing him before he had managed at least a couple of training sessions with his new teammates. A week's training under his belt, though, and the only decision for Vern Cotter and his fellow coaches is whether to hand him his debut cap in the starting XV or from the bench – the latter looks more likely – with Matt Scott, one of his rivals for the position, confident Jones could handle either.

"He has been really good," Scott said. "It was hard for him the first couple of weeks as he had a niggly injury and was not able to train with the boys. Since then, he has been keen to learn. He's settling in well and hopefully we will get a chance to see him at some point."

Even though Mark Bennett and Alex Dunbar never made the tour in the first place while Taylor's hamstring has forced him to head home, they still have Scott and Peter Horne as a midfield unit with Jones there to add even more competition to the battle for places. No wonder Scott is both desperate to make sure he gets back to Japan in three years when the World Cup is staged there, but also fully aware there are no guarantees.

A taste of the country, though, has whetted his appetite and made him determined to experience the country and the culture again: "We have been taken aback by the number of rugby-mad people that are here, compared to other countries we have been to," he said.

"We always have people at the hotel looking for autographs. When we got onto the bus there were 100 or so people cheering us. They are really embracing rugby. That will only grow with the success of the Japan team leading up to the World Cup. I am sure it will be an amazing place to be coming to in 2019. So, yes, I would love to be involved."

A lot can happen in three years. And in the short term Scott knows that, like all his colleagues, if he is to keep his place in the pecking order in the short term, there are improvements to be made in the team performance from the first Test.

"Obviously we were happy to win the game against a really strong team, it was a decent first hit out," he said. "There was lots of areas to improve, though. We did not take our chances as well as we could have. We let them off the hook a little bit and that made the game tight at the end.