Wallabies get the better of spirited Japan

Australia got their end-of-year tour of the northern hemisphere off to a positive start when they sealed a 32-23 triumph over Japan in Oita on Saturday.

As the scoreline suggests, this was a hard-fought battle with the home side proving competitive throughout but the Wallabies were deserved winners in the end and eventually outscored their hosts five tries to two.

Tom Wright, Jordan Petaia, Taniela Tupou, Robert Leota and Connal McInerney dotted down for the visitors while Quade Cooper slotted a couple of conversions and a penalty.

For Japan, Lomano Lemeki and Ryoko Nakamura scored tries with Rikiya Matsuda adding a conversion and two penalties and Yu Tamura also succeeded with a conversion and a penalty.

The Wallabies opened the scoring as early as the seventh minute when Cooper took on the home side’s defence on the edge of their 22 before offloading to Wright, who stepped past a couple of defenders on his way over the try-line.

Australia were dealt a setback in the 13th minute when Reece Hodge was forced off the field with a shoulder injury and three minutes later the Brave Blossoms opened their account when Matsuda succeeded with his first penalty.

Shortly after entering the fray ― as Hodge’s replacement ― Petaia crossed for his five-pointer after gathering a pass from Andrew Kellaway and Cooper did well to slot a difficult conversion which meant the visitors were in control of proceedings with the score 14-3 in their favour.

In the 26th minute, Japan found their attacking groove when Matsuda delivered a perfectly weighted crossfield kick which Lemeki gathered before crossing for his side’s first try.

Matsuda added the extras as well as a penalty in the 33rd minute but Cooper struck back with a three-pointer off the kicking tee of his own which meant the match was evenly poised with Australia leading 17-13 at half-time.

Three minutes after the restart Tupou ran onto a pass from Folau Fainga’a deep inside Japan’s half and he showed great determination and leg drive to power his way over the try-line for his side’s third five-pointer.

In the 50th minute, the Brave Blossoms were reduced to 14 men when Lemeki was yellow carded for a no-arms tackle on Hunter Paisami and two minutes later Leota rounded off a flowing move to give Australia a 27-13 lead.

Despite being down a man, Japan stayed true to their attacking roots and were rewarded in the 56th minute when Nakamura went over for their second five-pointer and in the 74th minute Tamura added a penalty.

That meant the Wallabies were holding a slender 27-23 lead but they secured the win in the game’s closing stages when debutant McInerney crossed for their fifth try, off the back of a lineout drive close to to Japan’s try-line.