When scaling a mountain, “don’t look at the peak”, advised the Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa. “Keep your eyes on the ground, put one foot in front of the other and climb patiently.” The Wallabies have to get from a current base camp of No 8 in the rankings to win next year’s World Cup. But they put one foot toward that peak on Saturday night by beating Japan.

In his first Test as new Wallabies coach and World Cup saviour, Les Kiss stepped up. Despite only two weeks with the team, he showed enough coaching nous to outlast his rivals on their home range. The Wallabies started slow, lost a man to a red card and played like a hot mess at times. But they kept climbing and found a way to win.

“That was tough, wasn’t it?” Kiss told Stan Sport after the 32-35 triumph in 32C heat and bone-sapping humidity. “Not just the conditions. They play fast and hard, at home in their back yard, they’re a tough team to play against. We probably offered them a few too many opportunities but overall, that’s a Test win. Well done, boys.”

Eddie Jones had an ambush laid for his old team on Saturday in Osaka. Not content with having sent Australia plummeting to their doom at the 2023 World Cup then defecting to Japan, Jones was licking his lips for revenge. His Brave Blossoms had fallen 19-15 to Australia in October in Tokyo but had grown exponentially since.

Conversely, Australia had stagnated, then slipped, under former coach Joe Schmidt. After that squeaky win in Tokyo, they went to Europe and lost all four Tests – their first winless tour in 67 years. Wallabies fans then watched their side lose the first home Tests of 2026 against Ireland and France, both times blowing bright starts.

That familiar blend of brilliance and boneheadedness was back on show in Osaka.

Two key Kiss calls went bung. Miles Amotosero was handed a first start, despite fracturing a teammate’s eye socket in preseason then finding himself in a sideline brawl in his Wallabies debut. Everyone knew Japan would red rag this raging bull, and sure enough he copped a red card in the first half and left his team playing a man short.

The other fail was Declan Meredith at fly-half. Schmidt had trialled nine No 10s in his 31 Tests and Kiss stuck with incumbent Meredith after solid but unspectacular showings against France and Italy. That experiment must end, with the Brumbies pivot making a series of blunders that kept Australia on a slippery footing all night.

Kiss said as much afterward. “Some kicking went astray, we overplayed a couple of times. You want to be able to be ambitious but at the same time temper that.” The Wallabies need a gun 10 to unleash their weapons out wide and Carter Gordon, Kiss’s playmaker at the Reds, must return for the rematch next week in Townsville.

When the Wallabies’ losing streak hit seven Tests last month, Kiss was watching in the stands with fans, or in the rafters with the men soon to form his coaching staff. He must have risked a glance at the mountain and shivered at the enormity of the task. But looking around him at the sold-out stadiums he must also have taken heart.

And when Schmidt’s final face-saving final win over Italy came, Kiss surely allowed himself to get excited. As the Wallabies flayed 38 points in the first half, a beautiful light glinted down at the incumbent coach from the apex. Here was speed and brio, daring and ruthlessness, raw talent and hard edges he’d soon have at his command.

All that firepower was there to be unleashed from the get-go against Japan. Instead Kiss was patient, cleverly holding back a bomb squad of stars for the final assault. Those finishers – Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou up front, Tate McDermott and Charlie Cale in the open – brought the fresh legs that got Australia back on the path to victory.

Kiss is cut from a very different cloth to most. He is an outlier, with a playing career in League and a long apprenticeship overseas, as defence adviser with South Africa and an assistant with Ireland. Like Kurosawa, he loves honour in his warriors. Asked what he wanted his Wallabies to show on Saturday night, he said: “That they care deeply.”

Kiss now comes home with the bit between his teeth and the wind at his back. Next Saturday, in the return Test at Townsville, it will be his fortress, a first chance to show home fans a vision for the long haul ahead and the heroes who will climb it with him. He has just 14 months to conquer the mountain but he’s already taken the first step.