Australia v Japan – Teams and Prediction – australia

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Japan’s coach Eddie Jones looks on before the Lipovitan D Challenge Cup rugby union match between Japan and Australia at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashiosaka, Osaka prefecture, on August 8, 2026. (Photo by Philip FONG / AFP via Getty Images)

PREVIEW: Eddie Jones senses Japan are on the cusp of finally winning a Test against Australia, with the wily coach confident his team can “make new history” when they meet in Townsville on Saturday.

Despite eight straight defeats since they first played each other in 1975, Japan are a team growing in confidence, losing their last two games against the Wallabies by just four points and three points respectively.

That included last week’s narrow 32-35 loss in steamy Osaka.

With Australia resting some of their big guns and making a raft of changes, Jones believes the time could be right to finally snap the drought.

“We haven’t achieved what we want to achieve yet, which is victory over Australia,” the Australian said of a team he used to coach.

“Just looking at the history in front of me, we’ve played eight games against Australia as a country. The first five games was an average loss of 33 points, and the last two games our average loss was three-and-a-half points.

“So we’re moving in the right direction… this is an opportunity for us to create new history for Japan and this group of players.”

Jones has made five changes to his starting line-up, with Tiennan Costley coming in as flanker and Harry Hockings returning at lock.

He will have two university students among the backs – Yoshitaka Yazaki on the right wing and Ryunosuke Ito at flyhalf – while Shunsuke Uenobo starts at inside centre and Haruto Kida on the left wing.

“We’ve had an excellent preparation. Couldn’t have asked for more from the players, so we’re ready to go,” said Jones, adding that they have been working on their shortcomings.

“We let ourselves down with our execution in the last game. We created good opportunities. Really focused on that in training this week.”

‘Savvy Jones’

Australia coach Les Kiss, whose team won in Osaka in his first match in charge despite a 20-minute red card, is attempting to steer the Wallabies to three consecutive victories for the first time in two years.

While his side got the job done, the fluency shown in their previous Test, a 57-10 romp over Italy, was missing with playmaker Declan Meredith underwhelming and dropped.

Carter Gordon returns from a calf injury to replace him among eight changes.

Only Josh Nasser and Harry Wilson have been retained in the forward pack, with heavyweights including Rob Valetini and Allan Alaalatoa rested.

“This is an important Test match for us, we’ve won two in a row now, but it’ll take more this week to get over Japan,” said Kiss.

“They were very good last week, and we know that Eddie’s a very savvy coach. So we’re going to have to be very good and improve in certain areas.”

While Kiss is looking to put together a string of good results in the lead-up to a home World Cup next year, he is seeking more than just victories.

The former Australian rugby league player wants his side to play with passion, telling them to “fight for anything” but also “have a bit of fun along the way”.

It is the first match between the two nations on Australian soil in 39 years.

Players to watch

For Australia: Carter Gordon returns from a calf injury at flyhalf in place of Declan Meredith, partnering Ryan Lonergan at scrumhalf. In one further change to the backline, Isaac Henry will start for the first time at inside centre in place of the injured Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii. The 1000th Wallaby is poised to be capped in Townsville after hulking prop Massimo De Lutiis was named on the bench to face Japan.

For Japan: Waseda University’s Yoshitaka Yazaki was named on the right wing, although Eddie Jones said the 22-year-old would play “as a second fullback”. Jones also stuck with university student flyhalf Ryunosuke Ito, who won rave reviews against Australia in what was only his fourth international appearance. Jones said that Ito, who made his debut against Italy last month in the Nations Championship, was “developing nicely”.

Prediction

Rugby365: Australia by 10 points.

Teams:

Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Issac Henry, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Harry Potter, 10 Carter Gordon, 9 Ryan Lonergan, 8 Harry Wilson (captain), 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Charlie Cale, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Lachlan Shaw, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Josh Nasser, 1 Angus Bell.
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Aidan Ross, 18 Massimo De Lutiis, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Fraser McReight, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Filipo Daugunu.

Japan: 15 Takuro Matsunaga, 14 Yoshitaka Yazaki, 13 Dylan Riley, 12 Shunsuke Uenobo, 11 Haruto Kida, 10 Ryunosuke Ito, 9 Naoto Saito, 8 Faulua Makisi, 7 Tiennan Costley, 6 Ben Gunter, 5 Warner Dearns (captain), 4 Harry Hockings, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 2 Hayate Era, 1 Takato Okabe.
Replacements: 16 Mamoru Harada, 17 Sojiro Otsuka, 18 Izi Sword, 19 Jack Cornelsen, 20 Michael Leitch, 21 Itsuki Kamimura, 22 Samisoni Tua, 23 Kazuma Ueda.

Date: Saturday, August 15
Venue: Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville
Kick-off: 15.15 (14.15 JST; 05.15 GMT)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Angus Mabey (New Zealand), Marcus Playle (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)

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