After pulling off the biggest upset in Rugby Union history, Japan will target another major scalp when they face off against Scotland in their second Pool B match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup on Wednesday.
Brighton was buzzing after Japan pulled off a near-unbelievable victory over South Africa, one of the pre-tournament favourites for the title, and now Gloucester will hope to witness some more history being created.
"Gloucester is one of the great spiritual homes of rugby," Japan coach Eddie Jones said. "People in Gloucester know their rugby, so hopefully we'll get a lot of support from the local crowd.
"They normally wear red and white so they can wear red and white tomorrow to support us. And we know the English don't like the Scottish so that's another bonus for us."
The former Wallabies coach might have fashioned a major upset, but Jones will know the South Africa win will mean something – in terms of this World Cup – only if they take the momentum and pull off another victory against Scotland, a win which will move them ever closer to the quarterfinals.
There is, however, a worry that Japan will be a tired team owing to the fact that they will be playing their second match in just four days, while Scotland will be taking field for the first time in this 2015 Rugby World Cup. Jones, though, swatted away that possible excuse.
"Are we favourites? Well if you read most of the papers we're not," Jones added with a smile. "Most of the people you talk to still think it was a fluke we beat South Africa, so this is a great chance to show that it wasn't and that we can really front up as a serious rugby nation.
"I think the pressure is all on Scotland because last Saturday showed maybe the order of world rugby can change. Scotland are one of the most established countries in world rugby.
"We don't have any excuses. We knew from the start that it was a four-day turnaround. Hopefully we will play some good rugby."
While Japan will, yet again, go into this rugby World Cup contest with that nothing-to-lose feeling, Scotland will know the pressure is on them to beat the Asian team. And if they get weighed down by that pressure, we just might have another major upset in store.
"The result confirmed a lot of what we thought about them," Scotland coach Vern Cotter said of Japan. "I think everyone was impressed by their commitment. They got the result because they worked hard and with accuracy.
"They identified a number of things and will have prepared for us too, so we know we'll be getting something well thought out. We need to stay focused and concentrate from start to finish."
Teams: Scotland: Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Mark Bennett, Matt Scott, Sean Lamont; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw; Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, WP Nel, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Ryan Wilson, John Hardie, Dave Denton.
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Ryan Grant, Jon Welsh, Richie Gray, Josh Strauss, Henry Pyrgos, Pete Horne, Sean Maitland.
Japan: Ayumu Goromaru; Kotaro Matsushima, Male Sau, Yu Tamura, Kenki Fukuoka; Harumichi Tatekawa, Fumiaki Tanaka; Amanaki Mafi, Michael Broadhurst, Michael Leitch; Justin Ives, Luke Thompson; Hiroshi Yamashita, Shota Horie, Keita Inagaki.
Replacements: Takeshi Kizu, Masataka Mikami, Kensuke Hatakeyama, Shinya Makabe, Shoji Ito, Hendrik Tui, Atsushi Hiwasa, Karne Hesketh.
Where to Watch Live
Scotland vs Japan is set to begin at 2.30 pm BST (7 pm IST, 9.30 am ET). The Rugby World Cup Pool B match will not be shown live in India on Sony Kix and Sony Six HD.
Viewers in the UK and Ireland can watch the World Cup match live on ITV, with the live stream option on ITV Player. Audience in Japan can watch their country play Scotland live on NHK, J Sports and Nippon TV.
Sky Sport will show the match live in New Zealand, while the World Cup game can also be watched via live streaming on Sky Go NZ.
Viewers in Australia can watch Japan vs Scotland live on Fox Sports 2, with the live stream option on Foxtel Play.
The 2015 Rugby World Cup will be shown live in South Africa on SuperSport, with the online live streaming option on SuperSport Live Video.
Audience in the USA can watch the rugby World Cup match live on Universal Sports, with the match also able to be live streamed on Universal Sports Online. Viewers in Canada can watch the action live on TSN, while the action can also be live streamed on TSN TV.
