Scotland put a ton on hapless Japan

Paterson claims a hat-trick

Scotland got last weekend's loss to Australia out of their system by thumping Japan at McDiarmid Park in Perth on Saturday evening, recording a 15-try 100-8 win over the tourists - the hosts' highest-ever score in international rugby.

After a nervous opening 10 minutes, Scotland overpowered the inexperienced visitors, with winger Chris Paterson scoring three tries in a personal haul of 40 points.

The Scots got off to a flying start when Allister Hogg touched down after just one minute, profiting from Allan Jacobsen's burst from a ruck and Chris Cusiter's pass. Chris Paterson slotted the conversion to give the Scots an early 7-0 lead.

But Japan hit back after the Scots conceded a scrum on their own try-line and winger Hayato Daimon went over in the corner after Keisuke Sawaki's looping pass exposed the Scottish defence.

Scotland responded with a series of forays into Japan's half, but were let down repeatedly by handling errors.

But the pressure eventually paid off when Andy Henderson burst through the middle and fed the ball along the line until it reached full-back Hugo Southwell, in just enough space to run in a try on the left-hand side.

Paterson added the conversion and soon afterwards landed a simple penalty to give the Scots a 12-point lead.

And minutes later the winger added a superb third try when he collected a short ball from Southwell and evaded two tackles to touch down before landing the conversion.

Scotland's fourth try was scored by Parks, who finished off a sustained spell of pressure by wrong-footing the Japanese defence before going over, while the fifth was an opportunist piece of work by Jon Petrie, stealing in at a Japanese line-out and sprinting in unchallenged from half way.

Scotland kept up the pressure after half-time and Paterson scored his second try when he chased a long kick and chipped it forward to score easily, before substitute Mike Blair added a seventh from Paterson's cross-field kick.

Andrew Henderson got on the scoreboard when the Scots caught Japan short with a quick scrum to create a huge overlap for the centre, who virtually jogged to the line.

After Paterson touched down Southwell's chip for his hat-trick, Graeme Morrison weighed in with his first Scotland try and Lamont followed suit soon after as Japan were run ragged.

Paterson took Scotland over the 80-point mark when he converted Donnie MacFadyen's try after the flanker broke clear from a ruck in front of the posts.

After the Japanese were denied a late consolation try by the video referee, Robbie Russell ran in the Scots' 13th with a well-worked move on the left and Southwell broke clear for the next.

Fittingly, Paterson brought up the century with the last kick of the game after Russell had bulldozed over under the posts.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries: Petrie, Russell 2, Hogg, MacFadyen, Lamont, Southwell 2, Parks, Paterson 3, Blair, Morrison, Henderson
Pen: Paterson
Cons: Paterson 11

For Japan:
Try: Daiman
Pen: Ikeda