TOKYO : Australia coach Joe Schmidt will consider calling up reinforcements ahead of next week’s clash with England after forwards Josh Canham and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto sustained injuries in the Wallabies’ 19-15 win over Japan in Tokyo on Saturday.
Tries from captain Nick Champion de Crespigny, Josh Flook and Carlo Tizzano gave a much-changed Australia a winning start to their autumn internationals series at a rain-soaked National Stadium but victory came at a price.
Salakaia-Loto lasted just six minutes until he was replaced by Canham, who only played for 15 minutes before being substituted too due to injury, forcing Champion de Crespigny to fill in for the remainder of the match at lock.
“England have a strong pack,” said Schmidt, whose team face their hosts at Twickenham on Saturday. “It just means we are light in the second row and we may need to get some reserves dug out from Australia, that’s probably our first thought.
“Josh Canham won’t be available next week and as yet I don’t have the full feedback on Salakaia-Loto, but, with them being the same position, I don’t think Nick is keen to play another 60 minutes at lock, so we do have to find someone else to do it.”
The win maintained Australia’s record of never having been defeated by the Japanese as Schmidt’s team handed out a loss to former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones, who took over in Japan following the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The home side, however, were always in the contest with Ben Gunter and Shuhei Takeuchi scoring tries for the Brave Blossoms after keeping the Wallabies at bay with a dogged defensive display.
“There’s nothing surprising about how competitive they were, how combative they were,” Schmidt said.
“We made them defend in the first quarter of the game a lot and they measured up. We got very close to scoring, maybe even got some but couldn’t quite get that separation on the scoreboard.
“They got off the line and forced us back a few times. They were really impressive through that period of defence.
“With 13 changes and losing two locks early on, it did become difficult for us. That’s more about us than Japan.”
