Japan’s narrow defeat by Australia showed they can compete with the best teams in the world, coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 loss yesterday.
Australia coach Joe Schmidt led the Wallabies for the first time against Eddie Jones, his predecessor and now Japan coach. During Jones’ second tenure as Australia coach, the Wallabies lost seven of nine tests and were eliminated in group play at the 2023 World Cup.
“What I’m super pleased about is that now we [Japan] are a team that stays in the fight,” Jones told reporters. “We kept going, we could have won the game in the end, but we weren’t quite good enough.”
Photo: EPA
Schmidt said of Japan’s performance: “There was nothing surprising about how competitive they were, how combative they were.”
Australia, who lost two locks to injury early on — Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and his replacement Josh Canham — would look to bring in replacements before facing England at Twickenham next weekend.
“With England’s strong pack, it means we may be light in the second row,” Schmidt said. “We might need to get some reserves from Australia.”
Japan would also travel to London to take on South Africa at Wembley Stadium next week.
“We’re going there thinking we’re going to win,” Jones said.
The Brave Blossoms pulled off a legendary upset at the 2015 World Cup in England, beating the Springboks with a last-gasp try.
“South Africa are like everyone, if you put pressure on and get in their face, they make mistakes,” Jones said. “Imagine beating South Africa at Wembley, that would be iconic.”
Schmidt made 13 changes to the team that played New Zealand in Perth in the Wallabies’ previous test match. Combinations at times looked brittle and underdeveloped.
Japan’s defense was superb, using quick line-speed to shut down the inside channels and prevent Australia from moving the ball wide.
At about the 19th minute, Japan defended its goal line against 27 phases of Australian attack while conceding several penalties and the first of two yellow cards. Japan’s backline became more dangerous in the second half after critical handling errors by scrum-half Shinobu Fujiwara before halftime.
De Crespigny’s opening try came after Fujiwara lost the ball, and Australia quickly recovered possession. A kick behind the defensive line put Japan under pressure near its goal line for the first time and resulted in a penalty to Australia.
The Wallabies took a quick tap, and after several pick-and-go attempts, de Crespigny crashed over. Tane Edmed converted.
Australia battered the Japan line first through 17 phases in the middle of the first half, then, after a penalty, for 10 more phases before Japan’s Michael Leitch won a turnover. Japan center Charlie Lawrence was shown a yellow card after repeated team offending.
Japan flyhalf Seungsin Lee kicked a penalty to make the score 7-3, and two minutes late,r Australia finally managed to crack open the defense. From a scrum, Edmed looped Hunter Paisami at first receiver and linked with Andrew Kellaway, who sent Flook on a 30-meter dash to the line.
Takeuchi scored after a neat interchange at the back of Japan’s lineout in the 53rd minute. Fujiwara passed to Leitch, then held the ball up to Takeuchi who pierced the defense.
Tizzano’s try from a lineout drive gave Australia a 19-8 lead before Gunter’s try, converted by Seungsin Lee cut the lead to four points and set up a tense last 10 minutes.
Prop Aidan Ross took the field in the 58th minute to become the fifth player to play test rugby for both Australia and New Zealand after playing for the All Blacks in 2021.
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