Japan can compete with world's best, says Jones after narrow Australia loss

Australia won 19-15, with Ross debuting to become the latest to play for both the All Blacks and Wallabies.

Australia's Rob Valetini runs past Japan's Jack Cornelsen in the test against Japan, in Tokyo on October 25, 2025.

"What I'm super pleased about is that now we (Japan) are a team that stays in the fight,"

Coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 defeat. Australia coach Joe Schmidt said of Japan's performance:

"There was nothing surprising about how competitive they were, how combative they were."

Jones told reporters: "We kept going, we could have won the game in the end but we weren't quite good enough."

Author's summary: Japan shows competitiveness against Australia.

RNZ — 2025-10-25