Ex-Wallabies duo rave about Japan’s ‘physical’ enforcer Michael Leitch

Nick Phipps and Morgan Turinui have sung the praises of Japan’s “physical” 90-Test backrower Michael Leitch, who returned to the Brave Blossoms’ starting side in last weekend’s 15-19 defeat to the Wallabies in Tokyo.

Lietch hadn’t suited up in the Brave Blossoms’ iconic red and white jersey since July 12, when they were beaten 22-31 by Wales. Coach Eddie Jones recalled the Test veteran for the clash with the Wallabies, along with fellow loose forward Ben Gunter.

Both Leitch and Gunter stood out as some of Japan’s best performers in the narrow loss, as they fell short of what would’ve been their first-ever win over the Wallabies, having mounted an impressive second-half comeback at the National Stadium.

New Wallabies captain Nick Champion de Crespigny opened the scoring in the 12^th minute, before a yellow card saw Japan go down to 14 men during the first term, and the visitors looked to make the most of their one-man advantage.

The Wallabies were within reach of the try line in the 20^th minute as they spread the ball wide-left, before Leitch secured a pilfer penalty in the 10^th phase of that attack. Leitch finished with a team-high 14 tackles, marking a memorable return to the international arena.

“He’s a bit older than me and he’s still so good, especially in League One, he’s still dominant. In a team full of stacked players… he’s still the out-and-out best player in their team,” former Wallabies scrum-half Phipps said on Stan Sport’s Between Two Posts.

“He’s old, yeah, but someone’s got to come through and replace him and no one’s playing good enough to put their hand up and do that.

“He made some tackles on the edge and then Edmed or Gordon would kick and he’d be back in the backfield covering,” Turinui added. “Challenged both attack and defensive breakdowns, he was physical.”

Front-rower Shuhei Takeuchi and backrower Gunter scored a try each in the second term as Japan mounted an impressive comeback, reducing the deficit to just four points with 19 minutes left on the game clock.

Australia’s defensive wall stood tall when it counted, as Joe Schmidt’s side held on for a crucial win to start their Spring Tour. Ranked seventh in the world ahead of the match, it’s an important result for the Wallabies ahead of the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup Draw in December.

As for the Brave Blossoms, they’ll look to repeat their most famous victory in team history, in a bid to return to winning ways. 10 years on from the Brighton Miracle, Japan will take on South Africa at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Japan will also face Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, Wales at the Principality in Cardiff, and Georgia in Tbilisi before their 2025 season draws to a close.

“They’ve gone through quite a roller-coaster with Eddie Jones since he’s come back,” Phipps explained..

“Wanting to pick a lot of home-born Japanese players and now starting to filter in a lot of those bigger foreign players that can come in and fill those roles that traditionally Japanese can’t fill, and then they have quite a traditional Japanese backline with their national players.

“I think what Eddie Jones has done well, and he’s going to be doing well now, is he’s making it one team… he wants to really bring those players in that will blend and be that Japanese team that everyone can be proud of.

“They will get a lot better. I think we discredit Japan a little bit with the result and scoreline. I think they played really well. We had all the ball, all the possession… they defended the line the whole game.

“They put in quite a good performance against the team of ours that was just looking to gel.”