Kick-off: 1145, 13/10/2019
Stadium: Nissan Stadium
TV: ITV
Scotland are fancied to keep their World Cup hopes alive by seeing off tournament hosts Japan, as long as Typhoon Hagibis does not intervene.
Gregor Townsend’s men must come out on top to qualify for the quarter-finals, but can take heart from having prevailed in all seven past meetings with the Brave Blossoms.
Punters can get 7/10 for them to extend that sequence in Yokohama and that is our opening Japan vs Scotland prediction.
A Look At Japan’s Betting Odds
Japan shook up Pool A when following up a 30-10 defeat of Russia by surprising Ireland, as Yu Tamura kicked them to a 19-12 upset in Shizuoka.
The Brave Blossoms then ran in four tries when brushing aside Samoa 38-19 with a strong second-half display.
Head coach Jamie Joseph insists Japan have the hunger and desire to finish the job off and reach the last eight on merit.
He declared: “It’s important for us to wake up on Monday morning and understand we’re a worthy top-eight team or we’re not.
“The key difference here between us and Scotland is that we’re driven and supported by the whole country.
“My team is motivated by achieving something great, not avoiding embarrassment.”
However, Scotland won 45-10 when these sides clashed in the last World Cup and prevailed 26-13 and 21-16 on a 2016 tour of Japan.
The hosts have put in a lot of development work since then, but we still like 91/100 for an away win by more than two points from the Japan vs Scotland odds.
A Look At Scotland’s Betting Odds
Scotland kicked off their campaign with an abject display when going down 27-3 to Ireland at this venue but clearly learned some harsh lessons that day.
A strong performance from the pack paved the way for a 34-0 demolition of Samoa, prior to a nine-try 61-0 rout of Russia.
Half-backs George Horne and Adam Hastings contributed five of those scores between them, while the latter also slotted over eight conversions.
Townsend has made a big call with his team selection after deciding to drop skipper Stuart McInally to the bench, selecting Glasgow’s Fraser Brown at hooker instead, with Greig Laidlaw now resuming the captaincy.
He stated: “This is the game that a lot of people are looking forward to. Japan are an excellent side and we’ll need to play very well to win.
“This is a game against the home nation, so it’s a game you dream to be involved in.
“We have been talking about it as one of the rare occasions where you get to play in a game that’s a straight shoot-out for quarter-finals, obviously with the proviso we score seven points more than Japan.”
Tommy Seymour always looks a threat for Townsend’s side and 8/1 for him to score the opening try completes our Japan vs Scotland betting tips.
Additional stats
Last result:
JAPAN 38-19 Samoa
SCOTLAND 61-0 Russia
Head-to-head: Japan 16-21 Scotland, Japan 13-26 Scotland, Scotland 45-10 Japan
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