Australia clash with Japan for the second week running in the first of our international rugby previews on Saturday. The teams met in Osaka last week and the Wallabies who came out on top, how will it turn out in Townsville?
Australia vs Japan, Saturday 15th August, Townsville, KO 06:15 (South African time)
Referee: Paul Williams (NZR)
Assistant Referees: Angus Mabey (NZR), Marcus Playle (NZR)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZR)
Weather Forecast - Townsville
Australia:
Last week’s clash in Osaka was the first for new Wallabies coach Les Kiss and his side came through with a 35-32 victory in humid conditions. The Wallabies started at around -14.5 points on the bookmakers main handicap line and their task was made harder when Miles Amatosero had a yellow card upgraded to a 20 minute red towards the end of the first half and he has subsequently picked up a 3 match ban. Although Australia were in front for almost all of the second half Japan were still in it to the end but the Wallabies held on. Harry Potter, Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Fraser McReight and Taniela Tupou were the Wallabies try scorers last week, all converted by Lonergan.
After the first 3 rounds of Nations Championship matches the Wallabies are in third place on the Southern log with 8 points, already 7 shy of South Africa and New Zealand.
Australia were edged out 33–31 by Ireland in Sydney in the opening Nations Championship match where they earned two bonus points whilst in Round 2 they went down 42-26 to France, salvaging a bonus point with a late try. The Wallabies coughed up what looked like match winning leads in both those matches but Round 3 saw them thrash Italy 57-10 in what was Joe Schmidt’s final game in charge.
Japan:
Japan threatened to beat Australia for the first time last week but eventually they came up short. Ito, Makisi, Main and Dearns were their try scorers, Matsunaga converted all 3 tries and also landed 2 penalties. Punters who took the plus handicap were happy and with a total points line of 62.5 it was one for overs backers.
Japan opened their inaugural Nations Championship campaign in in Tokyo where they got the better of Italy 27–10. In Round 2 they travelled to Newcastle, Australia for a match up with Ireland which they lost 36-20. Round 3 saw Japan return home to face France in Tokyo and they went down 42–15 victory. With four log points Japan are fifth in the Southern Hemisphere standings.
Recent Head to Head
Aug 2026 INT Osaka Japan 32–35 Australia
2025 INT Tokyo Japan 15-19 Australia
2021 INT Oita Japan 23-32 Australia
Team News
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. Ryunosuke Ito, 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. Kanji Shimokawa, 5. Harry Hockings, 4. Warner Dearns, 3. Shuhei Takeuchi, 2. Mamoru Harada, 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
The Betting
Australia -18.5 points at 9/10
Japan +18.5 points at 9/10
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
Bet: Australia v Japan
Posted 14 August 10h12
Bet: 3 units (1–5) – Australia over 39.5 points at 9/10 with Hollywoodbets.
The handicap is currently sitting around the Australia -17.5 to -18.5 mark, with the total points line set at 61.5.
Last week's game exceeded this points line despite being played in humid conditions, and looking at the weather forecast for Townsville, conditions appear close to perfect.
I'm expecting Australia (who are resting a couple of key forwards) to be sharper at home and, given they were able to score in the mid-30s last week, I think reaching the 40-point mark is well within their capabilities.
Australia over 39.5 points is the play.
More rugby bets from Brent can be found in the Currie Cup Blog whilst tips from other members of our community are posted on the weekly rugby thread on our brand new discussion forum. If you haven't done so already, register a forum account here.
Note, odds quoted are available at the time of writing but are subject to change.
