Irishman Eoghan Cross is tonight’s referee and the man who will doubtless earn the ire of the cast of former Australian internationals barracking from the commentary box.
“Deep care,” is the message from Les Kiss ahead of his first match in charge of Australia. He wants his team to care about every second, on and off the pitch, when they’re on national team duty.
The 2026 Test calendar is a patchwork quilt of matches scattered around the world as the the All Blacks and Springboks flex their financial muscles and teams begin preparations for next year’s World Cup.
The year’s tentpole is the inaugural Nations Championship, the first three rounds of which have concluded. The second block of three aren’t until November, by which point the Wallabies will have played bilateral series against Japan, Argentina, and New Zealand, as well as a one-off clash against South Africa.
Conditions in Higashiosaka are brutal. The mercury peaked at 35C earlier today. It remains 30C as we approach kick-off, with the “feels like” measurement higher still.
The 30,000 capacity Hanazono Rugby Stadium is the home of the Kintetsu Liners rugby union team and J. League club, FC Osaka. It hosted four off-Broadway matches in the 2019 World Cup.
Angus Fontaine cast his eye over the first squad of the Les Kiss era.
As a player, Kiss was renowned for his speed, fierce tackling and courage under fire. This squad of hard-hitters, gritty stayers and smart cookies is built in his image. He also brings in fresh thinking: Scott McLeod, an ex-All Blacks staffer, 2IC Jonny Fisher, analyst Eoin Toolan and setpiece gurus Tom Donnelly and John Ulugia.
Australia XV
Kiss has not looked to make wholesale changes to his first XV. In the backs there is only one alteration from the side that defeated Italy last time out with Hunter Paisami replacing the injured Len Ikitau. That means faith is shown in the inexperienced halves pairing of Ryan Lonergan and Declan Meredith.
Further forward, Fraser McReight returns to the back row, Josh Nasser gets the nod at hooker, and their are maiden Test starts to prop Aidan Ross and massive second rower Miles Amatosero.
1. Aidan Ross, 2. Josh Nasser, 3. Allan Alaalatoa, 4. Josh Canham, 5. Miles Amatosero, 6. Rob Valetini, 7. Fraser McReight, 8. Harry Wilson (c), 9. Ryan Lonergan, 10. Declan Meredith, 11. Harry Potter, 12. Hunter Paisami, 13. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14. Max Jorgensen, 15. Tom Wright.
Replacements: 16. Billy Pollard, 17. Angus Bell, 18. Taniela Tupou, 19. Jeremy Williams, 20. Charlie Cale, 21. Tate McDermott, 22. Ben Donaldson, 23. Isaac Henry
Japan XV
Eddie Jones has tweaked the side that overcame Italy in Tokyo a month ago. Goal-kicking, try-scoring fullback Takuro Matsunaga is vital, and Naoto Saitō controls the tempo from scrum-half, while the majority of the pack is the same that held its own against Australia this time last year.
The four leading cap-winners in the matchday squad were all born outside of Japan, a list including the inspirational Christchurch native Michael Leitch, who is nearing a century of Tests, and Queenslander Jack Cornelsen, one of three players born in Australia. That includes Ben Guntner, who Harry Wilson grew up playing club rugby with, and Harry Hockings, who counted the Wallabies skipper among his wedding party a couple of years ago.
1 Takato Okabe, 2 Hayate Era, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 5 Warner Dearns (c), 6 Ben Gunter, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 8 Faulua Makisi, 9 Naoto Saitō, 10 Ryunosuke Ito, 11 Taira Main, 12 Samisoni Tua, 13 Dylan Riley, 14 Kazuma Ueda, 15 Takuro Matsunaga
Reserves: 16 Mamoru Harada, 17 Sojiro Otsuka, 18 Keijiro Tamefusa, 19 Harry Hockings, 20 Michael Leitch, 21 Tiennan Costley, 22 Shunsuke Uenobo, 23 Yoshitaka Yazaki
Updated
Back to tonight’s match, with Jack Snape setting the scene as the Les Kiss era begins in sweltering Japanese heat.
The heat is on for new Wallabies coach Les Kiss – both physically and metaphorically – as he prepares for a sprint to next year’s World Cup, beginning in sweltering Osaka on Saturday.
The temperature for the clash against Japan is forecast to climb to a steamy 36C in the day before the evening kick-off. The only thing that would make the short runway to next year’s showpiece tournament more uncomfortable for Kiss would be an embarrassing first loss to the Brave Blossoms.
Les is the latest in a long line of sportspeople of Hungarian descent named Kiss.
Among them is Gergely, a legend of water polo, Kristina, a Canadian international footballer, Nicky, the former Great Britain rugby league hooker, and László, the scorer of the fastest hat-trick in FIFA World Cup history, and still the only one by a substitute.
Here’s some background on the Wallabies’ new head coach.
Kiss is an outlier. For starters, he’s a “leaguie” who’s never even played union. “It meant I really had to earn my stripes,” Kiss says. “I’ve learned it’s a player’s game and the locker room is every club’s heartbeat. Get standards right, create an environment which allows everyone to be their best, and the 80 minutes of game time takes care of itself. I’m not a copy-and-paste coach. I’m a big believer in values forged together.”
Kiss’s own values were shaped by his parents who fled the Hungarian Revolution to settle in Bundaberg in the 1950s, and his rapid rise as a flying winger in the 80s.
Preamble
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Japan v Australia in the first of a two-Test bilateral series. Kick-off at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashiōsaka is scheduled for 7.05pm local time (8.05pm AEST).
The dawning of a new era for Australian rugby begins, appropriately enough, in the land of the rising sun. Les Kiss is now the man responsible for the fortunes of the Wallabies, taking the head coaching reins from Joe Schmidt.
Although Schmidt won just two of his last 11 Tests (and 12/31 overall) he departed with his reputation undiminished for the job he did picking up the pieces from the 2023 World Cup fiasco, unearthing some serious talent, and proving that at their best the Wallabies are a match for anyone.
The problem Kiss has to solve is how to maintain top form for 80 minutes, consistently.
With so little preparation time before the 2027 World Cup on Australian soil Kiss needs to hit the ground running. His first squad indicates his approach will be one of continuity not wholesale changes.
As always seems to be the case with Australian rugby Eddie Jones is never far from centre stage and the 66 year old will be in the Japanese coaching box for Kiss’s debut. The pair go way back, but the wily veteran would love nothing more than embarrassing his former employers in such a high profile clash.
I’ll be back with final team lists and more shortly. Please send me your emails and keep me company throughout the evening. The address is jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.
