Japan skipper Michael Leitch has said that Saturday's spectacular Rugby World Cup victory over two-time champions South Africa was three years in the making.

Before today, the Brave Blossoms had only ever won once at the World Cup, 24 years ago against Zimbabwe, but Leitch led his side to arguably the greatest upset in the tournament's history at Brighton's Amex Stadium.

Leitch, a New Zealander of Fijian origin who moved to Japan at the age of 15, said that his men were not getting ahead of themselves with their second Pool B match just four days away against Scotland in Gloucester.

"We've been training to beat the Springboks for the last three years, so we're obviously pretty pleased with our effort," Leitch, 26, told reporters. "The boys are really happy; it's our first World Cup win in 24 years. To beat the Springboks at the World Cup is a pretty special feeling.

"Now that we've won we want to celebrate this win but we've got Scotland just around the corner."

Leitch insisted that there was more to come from the Brave Blossoms, who are now well on course to reach the quarter-finals after defeating the third-ranked team in the world.

"We haven't even played our best rugby," Leitch added. "Japan always has a strong second half - we talked all week that if the score was close at half time we knew we would have a chance."

Leitch scored the first of three Japan tries and by doing so became the first Brave Blossoms captain to score at a World Cup.