Steve Tandy will once again be an interested observer this weekend when two of the teams his Wales side will face in the second half of the Nations Championship, Australia and Japan, meet for a second test in Townsville.
The Wallabies served up a 35-32 triumph in searing heat in Osaka last weekend, where temperatures exceeded 35 degrees, to give new head coach Les Kiss a winning start to his career. They meet again on Saturday.
For Eddie Jones’ Japanese team it will be another step towards their Pacific Nations Championship. They face Canada on 5 September, the USA a week later and then move on to the Play Off weekend on 19 September.
After that they will prepare for their Round 4 Nations Championship clash with Wales at Principality Stadium on 7 November. Tandy’s team will host New Zealand the following week and then face Australia on 21 November to complete their group stage games.
Depending on where they finish in the Northern Hemisphere section – after the first three rounds they were fifth – they will then face the same ranked team from the Southern Hemisphere, currently the Japanese on the finals weekend at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
Tickets for all three matches in the Welsh capital in November are currently on sale and full details can be found HERE
Jones hs made five changes for the re-match by changing both wings, bringing in Haruto Kida and Yoshitaka Yazaki to replace Kazuma Ueda and Taira Main, while Samisoni Tua comes into midfield in place of Shunsuke Uenobo.
Australian-born lock Harry Hockings joins captain Warner Dearns in the second row, with Jack Cornelsen dropping to the bench. Flanker Tiennan Costley replaces Kanji Shimokawa in the only other change.
The Wallabies will have Carter Gordon back at No 10 in Townsville this weekend after his recov ery from a calf injury. He partners Ryan Lonergan at half-back and in of a number of changes made by Kiss from Osaka.
A new look second row sees Queensland’s Lukhan Salakaia-Loto named for his first Test this season. He packs down alongside Lachlan Shaw who will be making his first start in his third international.
Dynamic flanker Charlie Cale also gets his first start at blindside flanker, joining Carlo Tizzano and skipper Harry Wilson in the back row.
Experienced props Taniela Tupou and Angus Bell will beef up the pack as they return to front row action. The other change sees Isaac Henry get his first start at outside centre as he joins Hunter Paisami in the midfield.
The Wallabies face back-to-back Tests in Argentina on 30 August and 6 September before hosting the world champion Springboks in Perth on 27 September. They complete their build up to the second phase of the Nations Championship with home and away games against New Zealand – 10 October in Auckland and 17 October in Sydney.
They meet England, Scotland and finally Wales in their remaining Nations Championship group matches in November.
Australia (v Japan, 15 August): Tom Wright; Max Jorgensen, Isaac Henry, Hunter Paisami, Harry Potter; Carter Gordon, Ryan Lonergan; Angus Bell, Josh Nasser, Taniela Tupou, Lachlan Shaw, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Charlie Cale, Carlo Tizzano, Harry Wilson (captain)
Reps: Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Aidan Ross, Massimo De Lutiis, Jeremy Williams, Fraser McReight, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, Filipo DaugunuJapan: Takuro Matsunaga; Haruto Kida, Shunsuke Uenobo, Dylan Riley, Yoshitaka Yazaki; Ryunosuke Ito, Naoto Saito; Takato Okabe, Hayate Era, Shuhei Takeuchi, Harry Hockings, Warner Dearns (captain), Ben Gunter, Tiennan Costley, Faulua Makisi
Reps: Mamoru Harada, Sojiro Otsuka, Izi Sword, Jack Cornelsen, Michael Leitch, Itsuki Kamimura, Samisoni Tua, Kazuma Ueda