When scaling a mountain, “don’t look at the peak”, advised the Japanese film-maker Akira Kurosawa. “Keep your eyes on the ground, put one foot in front of the other and climb patiently.” The Wallabies have to get from a current base camp of No 8 in the rankings to win next year’s World Cup. But they put one foot toward that peak on Saturday night by beating Japan.
In his first Test as new Wallabies coach and World Cup saviour, Les Kiss stepped up. Despite only two weeks with the team, he showed enough coaching nous to outlast his rivals on their home range. The Wallabies started slow, lost a man to a red card and played like a hot mess at times. But they kept climbing and found a way to win.
