Despite a lopsided 54-20 loss to Argentina on Saturday afternoon, Japanese players held their heads up high at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground because they know that they can only improve by working more together in practices and games moving forward.

"We are disappointed with the result for sure," said prop Kensuke Hatakeyama, who played for the New Castle Falcons of the English Premiership last year. "But in spite of the fact that we had little practice opportunities, we displayed some good plays to some extent and I felt like our scrums can get even better if we keep making adjustments."

For the Brave Blossoms, the Argentine match was the first of the current four-game test series for the squad, which recently made a fresh start under new head coach Jamie Joseph and called up some new, talented players. The team will travel to Europe to square off against Georgia, Wales and Fiji in text matches over the next three weekends.

Hatakeyama said that Japan has many individuals with exceptional offensive abilities, but would have to compete more as a team that aims to "score tries collectively."

Swift winger Akihito Yamada said that Japan has tried a new defensive system since Joseph took over at the helm and it has not worked effectively yet, and the stark contrast in team cohesion between Japan and Argentina made the difference on Saturday.

"They were playing far more collectively than us," Yamada said. "It was as simple as that."

Yet asked if he had any sense of urgency with the outcome, Yamada quickly responded by saying, "I don't."

"We're staying positive," he said. "We're trying to play free-style rugby and have a lot of room to improve. I believe there's a lot of potential on this team."

Fly-half Yu Tamura insisted that Japan would have a much bigger chance to beat Argentina if it had applied the defense it played last year and executed it perfectly, but the team has moved on with a new system, including defensive schemes.

"We know we have time (to develop ourselves)," Tamura said. "Today, it was just that Argentina played well. They were really strong and were playing in the fashion they wanted. They capitalized on the small mistakes we had."

Tamura added that Japan stuck to its game plan for the first 20 minutes against the Pumas and that the length of the time would increase with more practices and games together.

"We saw many occasions that we had good plays and we are going to be better gradually," Tamura said. "When we were moving the ball, we showed some really good attacks today."

But the Japanese players aren't just hopeful. They know that they have to keep working hard to strengthen the squad, especially since the upcoming World Cup in Japan will be held in just three years.

Japan, currently ranked No. 12 in the world, is expected to play against more competitive nations to develop itself going forward, and whoever plays on the field, whether they are veterans or newcomers, is expected to get the best out of him.

"We had some new guys on our team. But you can't use it as an excuse for a loss," Hatakeyama said of Saturday's setback. "And both the national team and (Japan Rugby Football Union) need to make sure that the team will keep making developments."