“In a Test match if you leak 28 points it is going to be a tough one to win.

“But I am proud of the boys for the way we performed in that second half. We showed what we were really about.”

Ritchie’s chance at the tournament probably only came about because of the injury to his Edinburgh clubmate Hamish Watson.

And therein lies an intriguing debate.

As for both club and country, the duo cannot seem to combine and get fit and in form at the same time.

Internationally, Ritchie has now won 14 caps for his country, but the 23-year-old Dundonian has only started once alongside Watson – an autumn win over Argentina.

Dig a little deeper, and for club games it gets even worse.

Despite Ritchie’s ability to cover both the open and blindsides, still the Edinburgh duo cannot seem to put it all together.

Over the last three years, Ritchie and Watson have started together in the Guinness PRO14 only SEVEN times.

The tragedy is that they will have to wait even longer to start putting that statistic right.

The timeline for Watson’s return from serious knee injury remains unclear, so Ritchie will have to shoulder the load as Edinburgh look to kick on in Conference B.

But before that, Cockerill will want to give his internationals a chance to decompress and re-adjust to club matters.

Ritchie is clearly still getting his head around the defeat to Japan.

He added: “We don’t want to be coming back too much, if we can start game the way we starred that game, teams are going to struggle to beat us.

“We are proud of the effort that we put in. We will go back home and then we will come back firing.”

When it comes to matters in the Guinness PRO14, Cockerill will be itching to reinsert his star back row.

The pairing of Watson and Ritchie together will have to wait. But if Ritchie touches the heights he hit out in the Far East, the rest of the league better watch out.

Cardiff City Stadium will play host to the 2020 Guinness PRO14 Final on June 20 as one of the most exciting days in the club rugby calendar comes to Wales!

General sale tickets are available from http://bit.ly/PRO14Cardiff2020 and prices start at just £13 for concessions and £26 for adults (subject to booking fees), that’s a 15% early bird discount. Family ticket (2 adults / 2 children) prices begin at £64 and fans are encouraged to buy early to get the best value tickets.