Carter Gordon is back in the Wallabies No.10 jersey, and Les Kiss has picked a pointed moment to hand it over: Saturday’s second Test against Japan in Townsville (3pm AEST, Queensland Country Bank Stadium), where Australia need to show that the escape act in Osaka was a starting point and not a pattern.
Gordon hasn’t played since a calf injury in the July Test against Ireland. His return is the headline act among eight changes to the starting side, and it comes with a job description attached. Kiss wants his flyhalf running at the line, not around it.
“We know what Carter can bring,” the coach said this week. “We’ve just really built up his robustness.” Then the tactical part: “Carter’s got many strengths. He takes the line on.” Against a Japan defence that scrambled brilliantly for 80 minutes in Osaka, that is the point of the selection.
Osaka flattered nobody
The scoreboard at Hanazono said Australia won 35-32. The tape says it was harder work than a first hit-out against Japan should be. It was 14-14 at the break, Miles Amatosero was sent off early in the second half for a dangerous cleanout, and although tries from Harry Potter, Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Fraser McReight and Taniela Tupou kept the Wallabies in front, Warner Dearns dragged Japan back within three in the closing minutes. It took a Tupou breakdown steal to end the argument.
Kiss, in his first match as Wallabies head coach, didn’t dress it up afterwards. “We probably overplayed our hand a few times,” he admitted, calling some of Australia’s attacking intent “fool’s gold”. The reading in camp is that the Wallabies chased width before they had earned it, in 30-degree heat, against a side that lives off turnover chaos. Hence the theme of the week: be direct first, play flashy second.
Why Gordon changes the shape of the attack
Gordon is the most natural fit for that instruction in the squad. He is a flyhalf who attacks the gain line himself rather than shovelling the ball sideways, which forces defenders to bite in and opens space for the men outside him — and the men outside him on Saturday are worth freeing up, with Jorgensen and Wright both among the try-scorers last week.
There’s a familiarity dividend too. Gordon, Hunter Paisami and Isaac Henry played club rugby together at Wests in Brisbane back in 2018-19, and on Saturday they form the Wallabies’ 10-12-13 axis. Henry, who became Wallaby No.999 on debut in Osaka, gets his first Test start. A midfield with that much shared history is not a bad place to rebuild an attack that got loose last week.
A pack rebuilt in a week
The forward unit has been almost entirely refreshed. Lachlan Shaw earns his first Test start in the second row alongside the recalled Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, with Amatosero unavailable after his red card. Rob Valetini has been rested, Josh Canham is being managed through a hamstring issue, and Harry Wilson captains the side from No.8 in a back row completed by Carlo Tizzano and Charlie Cale. Kiss framed the overhaul simply: “The coaches have looked to find some balance in the selection after what was a physically taxing Test week.”
Wallabies (1-15): Angus Bell, Josh Nasser, Taniela Tupou, Lachlan Shaw, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Charlie Cale, Carlo Tizzano, Harry Wilson (c), Ryan Lonergan, Carter Gordon, Harry Potter, Hunter Paisami, Isaac Henry, Max Jorgensen, Tom Wright.
Replacements: Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Aidan Ross, Massimo De Lutiis, Jeremy Williams, Fraser McReight, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, Filipo Daugunu.
A shot at history for Wallaby No.1,000
There’s a lovely piece of symmetry sitting on the bench. If prop Massimo De Lutiis gets on — and benches almost always empty in August heat — he becomes the 1,000th man to play Test rugby for Australia, one week after Henry came off the bench as No.999. Two milestone caps in consecutive Tests, both against the same opponent, is the kind of detail Townsville will enjoy.
What to watch
First, whether the “direct” message survives contact. If Gordon and Paisami are punching holes in midfield before the ball goes wide, the plan is working; if Australia are again throwing the ball to the touchline on second phase, Japan will feast on the loose stuff like they did at Hanazono.
Second, Eddie Jones. The Japan coach came away from Osaka telling anyone who’d listen that his side had made a “real step up”, and this is his first game against Australia on Australian soil since his Wallabies exit. His teams have made a career of ambushing sides that assume the job is done. A three-point away loss will not have dented Japanese belief; it will have sharpened it.
And third, the last twenty minutes. McReight, McDermott and Donaldson off the bench is genuine finishing power, and after a week of talk about fitness and robustness, Kiss will want the Test won in that window rather than survived.
This is also, quietly, a first: Kiss’s first home Test as Wallabies coach, at the start of a 2026 schedule that only gets harder from here. After the wild swings of 2025 and the handover from Joe Schmidt, Australian rugby has been waiting to see what a Kiss team actually looks like. Saturday, with his own flyhalf on the field and a rebuilt pack in front of him, is the first real answer.
