'We have to stop being nice guys' - Japan knock Scotland out of Rugby World Cup

Quote Message: The players that were on the pitch at the end there are the players that will take us to the next World Cup cycle in France 2023. It all comes down to the analysis and Gregor is under pressure. This now means the Six Nations becomes very, very important.

The players that were on the pitch at the end there are the players that will take us to the next World Cup cycle in France 2023. It all comes down to the analysis and Gregor is under pressure. This now means the Six Nations becomes very, very important.

Quote Message: Gregor has got to be brutal and say, 'Players x, y and z, thanks very much, you've been brilliant for your country but we now need to build towards France 2023 so you're not part of that'. I think Gregor will stay on. He'll get the Six Nations, but he will come under real pressure if Scotland have a bad Six Nations.

Gregor has got to be brutal and say, 'Players x, y and z, thanks very much, you've been brilliant for your country but we now need to build towards France 2023 so you're not part of that'. I think Gregor will stay on. He'll get the Six Nations, but he will come under real pressure if Scotland have a bad Six Nations.

This is lovely. Rugby really has captivated Japan.

Quote Message: From a results perspective, it's hard to argue we are going forwards. What's happened over the last two years is Gregor is trying to find a little more consistency to the game. They're evolving from an all-court game to a bit more of a kicking game and we're still learning how to do it. There are a lot of positives going forward and I do think Gregor and the coaching staff are the right people to be given more time and find a more consistent game plan that is going to give us results long-term. We're just not there yet. We've got loads of young talent coming through.

From a results perspective, it's hard to argue we are going forwards. What's happened over the last two years is Gregor is trying to find a little more consistency to the game. They're evolving from an all-court game to a bit more of a kicking game and we're still learning how to do it. There are a lot of positives going forward and I do think Gregor and the coaching staff are the right people to be given more time and find a more consistent game plan that is going to give us results long-term. We're just not there yet. We've got loads of young talent coming through.

Scotland flanker Jamie Ritchie was proud of his side's second-half display but admits shipping 21 points in the opening 40 minutes was deeply costly.

"We left it all out there, especially in the second half," Ritchie told BBC Scotland.

"But when you leak 21 points in the first half then it's going to be very tough to come back from that. We gave it everything we had but it just wasn't enough in the end and fair play to Japan, they played really well in the end and they executed their game plan to score all their tries."

On Twitter, Philip West reckons Richard Cockerill, who has completely transformed Edinburgh, could do a similar job for Scotland if the role became vacant.

He tweets: "There’s something vaguely Stuart Lancaster-esque about Gregor Townsend. He talks a lot about ‘a brand of rugby’, but simply hasn’t delivered the results. If Scotland are looking for the perfect coach, Richard Cockerill is the man."

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More from Gregor Townsend's post-match press conference: "Over the piece we were disappointed we weren’t able to win by more than eight points.

"We started really well in defence and attack then we didn’t see much of the ball for the rest of the first half, partly due to errors we made, but also due to what Japan were doing when we had the ball.

"The two Japanese tries were felt were soft from our perspective. That made it very difficult to get the result we were looking for, but the players really put huge effort into that next 10-15 minutes and with 58 minutes gone, we were only seven points behind, but we didn’t do enough to get the win.

"Of course [being knocked out] is a major blow. We came here with high aspirations and getting out of the pool stage was stage one of that. We’ve worked really hard over the last four months and throughout this tournament to go further than we did tonight so it’s obviously very disappointing not to make it out of the pool."

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Greig Laidlaw asked about retirement: It was his 34th birthday yesterday. I think this is it for him in international rugby.

Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw, who turned 34 this week and was very tearful at full-time, doesn't give much away about his widely anticipated Test retirement.

"It’s not about me, it’s about the team," the scrum-half says.

"I’ll go away and take time and have a think and speak to the people I need to speak to and see what happens after that. Tonight it’s about staying together as a group and for the group to understand why we’re in this situation."

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend is asked whether he has taken Scotland as far as he can.

He replies: "There’s a lot more in this team. Experiences are what make you as a group and how you react to those experiences.

"That was a unique situation we were in tonight, we knew it was always going to be a challenge given the way Japan were playing, given our turnaround.

"But we had the team and ability and the start of that game to go on and win it by the necessary amount of points. That we didn’t is hugely disappointing and we’ll have to learn from that.

"You don’t get another shot in a World Cup for four years but we’ve got to improve as we hit our next tournament which will be the Six Nations in a few months’ time."

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Gregor Townsend's press conference is about to start in Yokohama. We'll bring you his quotes as soon as we have them. It's being streamed live on Sportsound, which you can listen to using the link at the top of this page.

Quote Message: I think we've got the wrong forwards coach, Danny Wilson, in place. We want them to be aggressive, we want them to dominate teams. The majority of the guys in the team are there. We need an edge to go in to the games as the bullies, in a sporting sense. We look like we just have nice guys up front right now.

I think we've got the wrong forwards coach, Danny Wilson, in place. We want them to be aggressive, we want them to dominate teams. The majority of the guys in the team are there. We need an edge to go in to the games as the bullies, in a sporting sense. We look like we just have nice guys up front right now.

Quote Message: The big question for World Rugby is: what do you do with Japan? For the next four years, are they going to go back to playing at a level well beneath them? Or are you going to find them a place in the Six Nations or Rugby Championship? That's the only way they're going to build on what they have now, which is incredible - packed stadium, multi-million viewers watching this game, a country in thrall to rugby. If you're going to let that disappear, then that would be a crying, crying shame, and actually an affront to Japanese rugby.

The big question for World Rugby is: what do you do with Japan? For the next four years, are they going to go back to playing at a level well beneath them? Or are you going to find them a place in the Six Nations or Rugby Championship? That's the only way they're going to build on what they have now, which is incredible - packed stadium, multi-million viewers watching this game, a country in thrall to rugby. If you're going to let that disappear, then that would be a crying, crying shame, and actually an affront to Japanese rugby.

Stuart Rees on Twitter: "I severely hope that @Scotlandteam kept Vern Cotters number. Been all downhill since he “left”."

SaidMadrid: "It is another step backwards in the scottish development.A quality squad that let themselves [down] time and time again."

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Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend tells ITV: "A big disappointment. We were obviously aware that this was huge for the home nation. The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. You didn't want to be the team that was losing in that atmosphere.

"We had a mountain to climb after that first half - especially after the [Japan] try just before half-time - but we started climbing it and I thought the effort the players put in to get back to within seven points was excellent.

"We just didn't kick on after that. We weren't accurate enough and Japan had a couple of sets of attack close to our line, but we could have done better to make it 28-28 and see what would have happened after that."

Understandably, some ill feeling towards Gregor Townsend is evident on Twitter. Let us know your thoughts using #bbcsportscot or #bbcrugby.

Duncan Shaw says: "Townsend has had two good results in his tenure (both v England) and that kept his reign going for far too long. SRU too blinded by beating England to actually see how poor this star studded Scotland squad has been."

Dave Sommerville: Quite frankly, Scotland weren't good enough to go through. After this performance and the Ireland game which was even worse, Townsend has to go

Nick Hughes: "Scotland got what they wanted, and completely were outplayed by Japan. They are consistently inconsistent."

Japan's victory books Ireland, who finish second in the pool, a date with New Zealand.

Those two have contested some monumental battles over the years, with Ireland winning a fantastic tussle in Dublin 11 months ago.

We'll hear from Gregor Townsend in the next couple of minutes.

Here's a nice wee stat for you:

Japan have won six consecutive Rugby World Cup matches, only Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England have enjoyed longer winning runs in the tournament.

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