NATHAN Hines claims Scotland will be in a good place for Saturday’s second Test against Japan if they can eliminate the silly mistakes.
Hines, a former stalwart of the team, who is now one of the assistant coaches, said as Scotland embarked on a second week of preparations at their Tokyo base: “We just need to make fewer errors.
“We controlled the set piece, it was just unforced errors and giving them the ball that cost us. If we cut down the error rate and keep the same standards in the other areas of the game we will give ourselves a good chance.
“I am happy with the result, but you are never satisfied with the way you play and should not be. It is exactly as Vern (Cotter, head coach) and Greig (Laidlaw, captain) said at the time – we will be looking to improve.
“We are always looking for things we did not do the way we wanted to and will try to improve them. There is good and bad stuff in every game.”
Former second row Hines felt Scotland had done well when it came to winning the ball in the first Test but were not so good when it came to keeping it, while Japan were the opposite.
He explained: “Japan struggled to get any platform off their line-out and we were pretty good on ours.
“Set piece-wise we were pretty happy, but that can change and we will need to adapt to what they can do this week.
“I would think they are going to put a bit of emphasis on trying to win their first phase and we know they are pretty dangerous if they get their own ball and get a bit of momentum, because they can hold onto the ball for 20 or 25 phases.
“We don’t want to be tackling for that amount of time.”
There have been injuries from the first game, but Gordon Reid, the Glasgow Warriors prop forward, has now arrived in Japan to replace Alasdair Dickinson, who tore a hamstring.
John Barclay (shoulder), Willem Nel (knee), Duncan Taylor (hamstring) and Ryan Wilson (knee) were all concerns, but there is increasing confidence that the niggles will all settle as the week goes on.
Hines added: “Training this week won’t be affected too much. Gordon Reid coming in – well, we are not training until tomorrow. If we were training today it would be different but he has another day to get over travel.
“It is pretty much the same as with Richie (Gray) last week, who arrived later and that did not disrupt preparations. I would think it would have a minimal effect on the group.
“He (Reid) has been part of this before, so it would be different location rather than different personnel.”
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