Duhan van der Merwe dotted down as Scotland stood firm against a late comeback attempt from Japan to claim a narrow victory at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Van der Merwe opened the scoring in the fifth minute as Scotland took a 19-6 lead into half time, with Stuart Hogg and Darcy Graham adding tries.

Japan mounted a valiant effort at a comeback in the second half as flyhalf Rikiya Matsuda slotted two penalties to add to the two that he converted in the first half.

Scotland stretched their lead through a try from Stuart McInally from a driving maul, but Japan struck back as Tevita Tatafu scored from a lineout, before Matsuda added another penalty to make it a six-point game with fewer than 10 minutes on the clock.

While Japan tried to launch an attack from inside their own half to steal a win, a couple of errors allowed Finn Russell to seal the result in Scotland’s favour with a 79th-minute penalty.

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