'Calm' Kiss savours first win as Wallabies boss / Photo: Philip FONG - AFP
'Calm' Kiss savours first win as Wallabies boss
New Australia coach Les Kiss said he was "calm and collected" after opening his Wallabies tenure with a roller-coaster 35-32 away win over Japan on Saturday.
Australia scored five tries in sweltering conditions in Osaka but never managed to shake off a tenacious Japan until the final whistle.
Kiss has replaced predecessor Joe Schmidt with just 14 months to go until Australia host the Rugby World Cup.
The 61-year-old said he and his coaching staff did not panic, even when a red card for lock Miles Amatosero before half-time left them a man short.
"The coaching team were very calm and collected and stayed on point, which was good," said Kiss, who will lead his team against Japan again next week in Townsville.
"We didn't let our emotions run away with ourselves, that's for sure."
Amatosero was initially yellow-carded for charging Japan captain Warner Dearns's head with his shoulder.
The yellow was upgraded to red just before the half-time hooter.
"At half-time, we just talked about making sure we managed our energy with 14 men," said Kiss.
"The way we played our game slightly changed just so that we could manage our energy, which I think was crucial on the back end."
Harry Potter, Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Fraser McReight and Taniela Tupou all scored tries for the Wallabies.
Japan scored four of their own, including a late Dearns effort that brought the hosts within three points of the Wallabies with minutes to go.
"Very happy how the boys scrambled and won the moments that we needed to win," said Kiss.
"That was important for us."
The evening game was played in 30C heat and high humidity at Hanazono Rugby Stadium.
It was announced earlier in the day that Fijian rugby player Saimoni Vunilagi had died in Japan after being taken to hospital on Monday with "symptoms consistent with severe heatstroke".
Kiss said "the conditions alone were tough" to deal with.
"But we've seen what the Japanese team can do on their home turf here in their back yard," he added.
"We had to pull out all stops so it's a good win, a good solid win with some quality in there and a few things to work on."
S.Karner--NWT
