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

Japan face South Africa at Wembley next week while Australia play England at Twickenham. 

Japan lost 19-15 to Australia on Saturday. Pic: Koki Nagahama/Getty Images)

Japan’s narrow defeat by Australia showed they can compete with the best teams in the world, coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 loss on Saturday.

The contest was the visitors' first against their former coach Jones, who quit the Australia job to return to Japan soon after their calamitous 2023 World Cup campaign.

"What I'm super pleased about is that now we (Japan) are a team that stays in the fight," Jones told reporters. "We kept going, we could have won the game in the end but we weren’t quite good enough."

Australia coach Joe Schmidt said of Japan’s performance: "There was nothing surprising about how competitive they were, how combative they were."

Australia, who lost two locks to injury early on - Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and his replacement Josh Canham – will look to bring in replacements before facing England at Twickenham next weekend.

"With England’s strong pack it means we may be light in the second row," Schmidt said. "We might need to get some reserves from Australia."

Japan also travel to London to take on South Africa at Wembley Stadium next week.

"We're going there thinking we're going to win," Australian Jones said.

The Brave Blossoms pulled off a legendary upset at the 2015 World Cup in England, beating the Springboks with a last-gasp try.

"South Africa are like everyone, if you put pressure on and get in their face they make mistakes," Jones said. "Imagine beating South Africa at Wembley, that would be iconic."