As his last act in the international arena was to kick the conversion which secured Scotland's 30-29 victory over Italy in Pretoria five months ago, it is little wonder that Greig Laidlaw should be excited to be back on Test duty again.

But the scrum-half's enthusiasm has less to do with what happened in South Africa in June than with what he sees around him in Edinburgh at the moment.

"There's a good feeling when you look through the team because most of the boys are on form at the minute," said Laidlaw, who will hand back the captaincy duties to Kelly Brown this weekend. "That's the exciting thing for me. In the past we've maybe not had such a big pool of players to pick from, but the reasonably successful stints guys put in during the summer is now showing in the team."

Laidlaw was cautious not to lay too much stress on the Scots' performances in South Africa, as the narrow win against Italy was their only victory of a venture that also saw them lose to Samoa and the Springboks. However, his own form on the tour was outstanding, and he is now more secure than ever in his position as Scotland's first-choice number nine.

There is no complacency about Saturday's opposition, though. Scotland's humiliating loss to Tonga in Aberdeen last year was a salutary lesson for Laidlaw and his team-mates, so he is reading nothing into Japan's lowly 15th place in the world rankings. "We're certainly not taking them lightly," said Laidlaw.

"We have traditionally started with a tougher game, so we have to make sure that we go on and win this one and get off to a good start."