Brisbane: Coach Michael Cheika said Australia were improving and would be ready to take on New Zealand in the Rugby Championship after fighting off Italy 40-27 on Saturday. Ireland overpowered Japan 35-13 to finish with a perfect record on their three-game summer tour.
Late tries to Bernard Foley and Reece Hodge staved off the threat of a second shock defeat following last week’s loss to Scotland, after Italy had narrowed the scores to 28-27 with 10 minutes left.
The nature of the win will do little to ease the pressure on the hosts, who were criticised ruthlessly both by media and supporters following the 24-19 defeat to Scotland.
Australia’s next game is against New Zealand on August 19, but Cheika was upbeat about their chances against the world champions.
“We know there’s a lot of things we need to do, but we’ve got to just go for the critical few that we can achieve over the next block of time,” Cheika said.
“From there we have to get ourselves a strategy that we can compete against them.
“We’ll know a bit more after we watch them play the three-match series against the (British and Irish) Lions.”
Italy, the Six Nations wooden-spooners, came into the match after consecutive losses to Scotland and Fiji and without a win against Australia in their 16 previous meetings.
“There is a mentality (in the team) that if we work hard and make changes and we get the support we need, we will become a competitive country again,” said visiting coach Conor O’Shea.
“As we get fitter and stronger we will get more self-belief. I’m gutted we lost — we didn’t come here to come second.”
Italy opened the scoring in just the second minute with a Tommaso Allan penalty, before they were denied minutes later when lock Dean Budd appeared to score in the corner.
However, the television match official ruled that winger Giovambattista Venditti’s boot had scraped the touchline with one fingertip still touching the ball as he passed infield to Budd.
“He must have fat fingers,” O’Shea joked.
Joe Schmidt’s second-string Ireland side looked on course to rack up 50 points for the third successive match as the visitors ran in four first-half tries in Tokyo.
Despite wilting in the heat as the game went on, Ireland had enough of a cushion to keep the Japanese comfortably at arm’s length in a dress rehearsal for their 2019 World Cup pool clash.
“That was very tough going,” Schmidt told reporters. “It was very hot out there and players were fatiguing so it was good to get a good start and hang on. Japan made it very hard for us.”
The signs were ominous for Japan’s “Brave Blossoms” when Garry Ringrose raced clear to score under the posts and flanker Josh van der Flier wriggled over in the corner in the first 10 minutes.
Bulldozing tries from Kieran Marmion and stand-in skipper Rhys Ruddock further stretched the lead for Ireland, the bulk of whose regular players are on British and Irish Lions duty in New Zealand.
Japan’s sole glimmer of hope had been Kotaro Matsushima’s swashbuckling try on 24 minutes but after trailing 28-8 at half-time, the next World Cup hosts offered significantly more resistance after the interval.
Akihito Yamada tiptoed down the wing to register Japan’s second try, while Ireland narrowly avoided going scoreless in the second half thanks to replacement flanker Sean Reidy’s late effort.
Fly-half Paddy Jackson unerringly converted all five tries for Ireland, who crushed Japan 50-22 last weekend and also broke the 50-point mark against the United States in their opening tour game in New Jersey.
