Eddie Jones' Japan give Wallabies major scare in Tokyo

The Wallabies have survived a huge fright to kick off their spring tour with a hard-earned but critical 19-15 victory over Eddie Jones’ lowly-ranked Japanese in Tokyo.

Australia’s so-called “B team”, featuring 13 personnel changes and a rookie new three-Test captain, held on grimly in the second half to avoid a first ever defeat to the truly brave Brave Blossoms on Saturday.

When Australian-born flanker Ben Gunter cut Japan’s deficit to four points with 20 minutes remaining, the home team enjoyed all the momentum as Jones stalked an improbable revenge victory two years after being sacked as Wallabies coach for a second time.

Instead, the injury-hit Wallabies hung on to post a significant win in driving rain at Japan’s National Stadium.

Ranked seventh in the world ahead of four massive Tests in Europe against England, Italy, Ireland and France, the Wallabies need to break into the top six by the end of their tour to earn an all-important top-six seeding at the 2027 Rugby World Cup on home Australian turf.

Fixture

Internationals

Japan

15 - 19

Full-time

Australia

All Stats and Data

A loss to the 13th-ranked Japanese would have been disastrous.

And a repeat of Australia’s historic spring tour defeat in Italy in 2022, which precipitated the axing of New Zealand coach Dave Rennie, looked on the cards for much of the second half.

Alas for Rennie’s compatriot Joe Schmidt, the Wallabies’ incumbent coach’s calculated risk to make mass changes and rest star players for Europe paid off.

The Wallabies lost powerhouse Lukhan Salakaia-Loto just six minutes into the contest, then his replacement Josh Canham – also to a head knock – a quarter of an hour later.

Their twin departures forced a scrum reshuffle and the pressure showed as Brave Blossom forwards applied plenty of heat at the set piece, causing chaos at the lineout in particular.

In between the injury carnage, flanker Nick Champion de Crespigny marked his Wallabies captaincy debut, in just his third Test, in style with the first try of the match after 12 minutes.

Down a man with prop Shuhei Takeuchi in the sin bin, Japan opted to take three points in the 26th minute through flyhalf Seungsin Lee to reduce the deficit to 7-3.

Josh Flook extended Australia’s lead to 14-3 at halftime after the centre cashed in on a midfield break from fullback Andrew Kellaway.

An early second-half atonement try to Takeuchi pulled Japan back to within six points, before Carlo Tizzano seemed to have made life more comfortable for the Wallabies when he finished off a driving maul try in the 56th minute to make it 19-8.

Things got really hairy for the Wallabies when Gunter – the pride of Gunnedah – crossed to set up the desperate finish.

But the visitors held on to save Australian blushes – and maybe from the scrutiny turning to Schmidt’s future ahead of his handover to Les Kiss next year.