Wallabies see red but survive Osaka thriller

Certainly not the finest moment from the men in gold but they ultimately came out in front in the only metric that matters, the score, so that's a refreshing change.

Unless they were to somehow have blown Japan off the park the result was always going to seem lacklustre from Australia pretty much no matter what they did. And they met that minimum threshold by getting the win.

Although there weren't any particularly glaring flaws in the performance unlike in the Nations Championship so far, they still haven't shaken this really bad habit they have of sabotaging themselves in good field position when they have the momentum.

And that becomes ever more critical the less possession and territory you enjoy. Since your opportunities are limited you have to maximize the value you extract from that opportunity. They have not been able to do this and they keep letting teams off the hook as a a result.

At times it also felt as if defence was optional where players weren't making the stops that they needed to and would leave it up to the next guy, resulting in Japan almost doubling the post contact metres.

Not a great start in terms of what the coaches are trying to bring but it wasn't all bad and when they clicked in defence and on attack they looked genuinely dangerous and formidable.

Even though the most common criticism thrown around is that some of the players don't look ready for this level of competition, if you never even give them a shot how are you ever going to know if they will be good?

Virtually no one steps straight in and makes an impact. It's rare for that to happen so for that to be the expectation is completely unreasonable.

Completeness takes time to build and most of the guys who are currently in the team have less than 25 caps so they will need time to develop.

And when I say develop I don't mean in the building of core skills and fitness. I mean gaining the extra understanding and quality that is needed to compete at this level which only comes from time spent playing at the level.

Where do people imagine that the depth they're always bemoaning or maligning Australian rugby for lacking comes from?

It will also be interesting to see how the depth conversation progresses with the Australia A program later in the year since that will give a strong indication of who the selectors are looking at for higher honours and possibly call ups for the World Cup.

We probably learned more about Japan than we did about the Wallabies and that should perhaps be concerning for the teams who have yet to play them as they could spring a few surprises yet.

Aside from this being still far from the top line Wallabies lineup and highly unlikely to be the one that actually turns up at the World Cup, the options are growing at the right time and it's going to be crucial how Kiss uses his next 17 tests to forge a squad that can potentially win, not just be competitive.

Not pretty but it’ll do for first game under Kiss. On the bright side, lots of room for improvement. Strewth…..

I get that the Wallabies played with 14, but still almost losing to Japan should raise all sorts of ted flags.

I hope RA management and Kiss understand that Amatosero can't play at this level. He can't play at Super Rugby level as well. Actually he shouldn't play rugby at all. His tempers will fail him again and again and smart opponents will target him knowing that.