{"id":239640,"date":"2025-10-25T10:17:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T10:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/239640\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T10:17:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T10:17:18","slug":"japan-player-ratings-vs-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/239640\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan player ratings vs Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Japan<\/a> player ratings: The Brave Blossoms were gutsy but fell just short 19-15 in Tokyo, pushing an experimental Wallabies side all the way before running out of time.<\/p>\n

Eddie Jones\u2019 men showed heart and defiance in awful conditions, with standout performances in defeat.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how we rated the Japan players:<\/p>\n

15. Yoshitaka Yazaki<\/a> \u2013 7
Lively and dangerous whenever he countered. Beat defenders, tested the Wallabies\u2019 kick-chase and handled the greasy ball well. One of Japan\u2019s best attacking sparks in the back three.<\/p>\n

14. Kippei Ishida<\/a> \u2013 8
Electrifying footwork and balance at times, gave Australia\u2019s defence headaches every time he got a glimpse of space. Took the initiative late on when Japan chased the game.<\/p>\n

\"Team Turnovers \"Team <\/p>\n

13. Dylan Riley<\/a> \u2013 5
An off day for the normally excellent Riley. Missed tackles, lost shape in defence and offered little in attack. At fault along with Tomoki Osada<\/a> for Australia\u2019s second try.<\/p>\n

12. Shogo Nakano<\/a> \u2013 6
Early exit for an HIA and never really settled once he returned. Some solid defensive reads but guilty of coughing up possession too easily.<\/p>\n

11. Tomoki Osada \u2013 5
His misread in defence cost Japan a try, and he never quite recovered his confidence. Offered little in attack.<\/p>\n

10. Seungsin Lee<\/a> \u2013 6
Kicked his goals and managed territory decently, but his game management wavered when Japan had momentum.<\/p>\n

9. Shinobu Fujiwara<\/a> \u2013 7.5
Set the tempo and created Takeuchi\u2019s try with quick thinking around the ruck. Crisp service throughout and relentless energy, but his kicking from base was inconsistent.<\/p>\n

8. Michael Leitch<\/a> \u2013 6.5
Led by example again but far from perfect. Tireless in contact and at the breakdown, and the ageing warrior\u2019s leadership in the wet was immense. Against that, a few too many turnovers blotted his copybook.<\/p>\n

7. Kanji Shimokawa<\/a> \u2013 6
Worked hard without much reward. Tackled all day but struggled to impose himself against Australia\u2019s heavy carriers.<\/p>\n

6. Ben Gunter<\/a> \u2013 8.5
Outstanding. Scored Japan\u2019s second try and was everywhere defensively. His work rate and commitment summed up the side\u2019s spirit. One of the few Japanese forwards to consistently win collisions.<\/p>\n

5. Warner Dearns<\/a> \u2013 6
There\u2019s rightly been a lot of hype around the Hurricanes-bound Dearns. He was solid enough here but was one of a number of Japan players who coughed up too much ball.<\/p>\n

4. Jack Cornelsen<\/a> \u2013 6
Industrious as ever but part of a pack that struggled for clean set-piece ball.<\/p>\n

3. Shuhei Takeuchi<\/a> \u2013 8
From villain to hero after his yellow card. Came back strong, powering over for Japan\u2019s first try and scrummaged well thereafter.<\/p>\n

2. Hayate Era<\/a> \u2013 8.5
Superb shift. His tackling was ferocious and he turned over multiple Wallaby rucks. Exactly the sort of mongrel Japan needed in the rain.<\/p>\n

1. Kenta Kobayashi<\/a> \u2013 6
Put in a grafting 70 minutes but faded late. Discipline occasionally let him down.<\/p>\n

Replacements \u2013 5
Barely had time to make a difference, with most entering after the 70-minute mark. Jones\u2019 reluctance to use his bench earlier left fresh legs wasted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan player ratings: The Brave Blossoms were gutsy but fell just short 19-15 in Tokyo, pushing an experimental…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-239640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}