Les Kiss got the result his first night as Wallabies coach demanded, and very little else that resembled control. Australia beat Japan 35-32 at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Osaka on Saturday, playing the last stretch of the first half a man down and holding on after Warner Dearns brought the hosts within three points with three minutes left.
The Wallabies scored through Harry Potter, Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Fraser McReight and Taniela Tupou. Ryan Lonergan kicked four conversions, Ben Donaldson the other. Japan crossed through Ryunosuke Ito, Lua Makisi, Kazuma Ueda and Dearns, with Takuro Matsunaga adding conversions and two second-half penalties. It was 14-all at the break.
Kiss, who took over from Joe Schmidt with 14 months until Australia hosts the 2027 Rugby World Cup, did not pretend it was tidy.
"Some kicking went astray, overplayed a couple of times," the 61-year-old told Stan Sport, saying his side had "probably offered a few too many opportunities" to Japan.
"You want to be ambitious but at the same time temper that. We'll have a look at it but overall, it's a Test win."
The turning point came shortly before half-time. Miles Amatosero, making his first start for Australia, charged into the head of Japan captain Dearns with his shoulder. The yellow card was upgraded to a 20-minute red. TMO Richard Kelly's reasoning was blunt: "He's always illegal with no effort to wrap, with direct head contact. It's a high degree of danger."
Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, on commentary for Stan Sport, disagreed.
"Look, he's gotten it wrong. I don't necessarily agree with the red card; that should have remained a yellow card, in my opinion," Hooper said. "But that's the risk you run when you do come in at pace, trying to put a shoulder into a different area."
Japan scored through Makisi almost immediately after the card. Australia captain Harry Wilson said the half-time siren rescued them.
"Once we had the red we knew we were under the pump there, but we got a little bit lucky knowing there was half-time in the middle," Wilson said. "The coaches gave us a really good plan how to play with the red card for the next 11 minutes of the second half, and that put us in a pretty good position there."
Planet Rugby's Jared Wright was less forgiving of Amatosero, pointing out that the 24-year-old lock began his year by punching Waratahs teammate Angus Scott-Young in pre-season and was involved in the scuffle during the Italy Test. Wright argued that the only thing currently linking him to Will Skelton, the man he is tipped to succeed, is his size.
The other reading of the night is that Japan are getting good again. Eddie Jones, in his third year back in charge, has taken the Brave Blossoms through a Nations Championship win over Italy, a tight loss to a second-string Ireland and a respectable defeat to France. Ito, a 21-year-old university student on his fourth cap, gave them the lead inside 11 minutes with a try he made himself.
Jones was not consoled.
"Fundamental errors let us down when we were gaining some momentum," he said. "I thought we played quite well, but obviously not well enough to win the game."
The match was played in 30C heat and high humidity. Earlier that day it was announced that Fijian player Saimoni Vunilagi had died in Japan after being hospitalised on Monday with symptoms consistent with severe heatstroke.
The two sides meet again in Townsville next Saturday, where Kiss will get a cooler night and, he will hope, a cleaner one.
