Tom Banks made a try-scoring return from injury in Fukuoka today where Australia A grabbed a rousing 22-21 win on full-time.
The experienced fullback’s heartening 40-minute comeback was one of the high points in an upbeat success over a Japan XV bristling with Test players.
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The touring Australians left it to the last gasp with flyhalf Tane Edmed calmly slotting an angled conversion attempt with time up at Best Denki Stadium.
The A team players hugged joyously as they should have after seemingly being out of it at 21-15 down until hooker Richie Asiata was shunted over in a rolling maul drive with seemingly a dozen gold jerseys welded to him.
Edmed, 22, stepped up for his first place kick of the match, nailed it and gave the tourists a 2-0 lead in a series where the Japanese were favourites.
If the Wallabies are to this week name their touring squad for Europe, Banks did everything required to prove his readiness as did starting fullback Jock Campbell who played the opening 40 minutes.
Banks was on the field for just three minutes after entering the game for the second half when he was an integral part of Australia A’s best try.
He gave an instant reminder to Wallabies coach Dave Rennie of his dash in his first game time since he suffered a sickening broken arm in the Perth Test against England three months ago.
He scooted onto a crisp wide pass from Edmed, who had a handy game. The A team were 65m out at that moment but Banks darted into space, linked well with winger Dylan Pietsch and stayed active to take a return pass.
Banks still needed some neat footwork to shrug off the final shreds of cover defence for the try and a 15-8 lead for Australia A.
There was no hesitance in a tackle he had to make out wide, he was alert for another run and will only mark himself down because two kicks to touch from penalties were both 5-10m shorter than he would have liked in the closing minutes.
The Australians deserve strong credit for two fightbacks in the game. They clawed back to 10-8 at half-time after come from 8-0 down after as many minutes.
Imposing their physicality wasn’t always easy for the Australians with the Japanese playing their fast, hit-and-run game.
High-workrate props Matt Gibbon and Pone Fa’amausili both forced turnover penalties with excellent work over the ball when the tide started to turn midway through the half.
Nick Frost pinched a Japanese lineout throw and lock partner Caderyn Neville pressured for a crooked throw to further rattle the Japanese.
A Ryan Lonergan penalty goal after 11 minutes had put Australia A on the scoreboard but better was to come.
Fullback Campbell snapped out of an indifferent start with a classy and decisive play at the 30-minute mark.
He swept to the shortside with perfect timing to take a Lonergan pass from the ruckbase. Fa’amausili did his job as an effective decoy and Campbell took the gap with typical relish.
He took off on a diagonal run to the tryline to give an excellent recommendation on why he should get a crack in the Test arena on the European tour.
Fa’amausili and impressive flanker Brad Wilkin made strong tackles back-to-back late in the first half that led to a penalty.
The Australians were emboldened by their progress and struck again just after half-time with the superb Banks try over 65m.
Just as unfolded a week earlier in Tokyo, the Australians were on the backfoot for a lengthy period in the first half before finding their feet.
The speed and precision of the Japanese game produced a result after just 54 seconds. The Australians failed to gather the kick-off to the match and in a blink the Japanese had put together a neat four-pass raid to the right.
Test winger Kotaro Matsushima dashed over out wide with the defence caught flat-footed.
A Seungsin Lee penalty goal soon after put the Australians behind 8-0 after as many minutes. His kicking boot and a Michael Leitch try gave the Japanese the lead again at 18-15 in the 61st minute.
The A team had strong performers. It was Fa’amausili’s best 50 minutes in gold, Gibbon was all workrate, Wilkin was productive at flanker, No.8 Langi Gleeson made five strong first half charges to get his team rolling and versatile Seru Uru was good off the bench.
Australia A captain Ryan Lonergan was thrilled with his side's fighting qualities and gave Edmed a big tick for his poise.
"I'm very proud of that win. We said at half-time, it was just one we had to grind out because we weren't finding much momentum," Lonergan said.
"Tane steered the ship really well."
Coach Jason Gilmore summed up a plucky victory: "Resolve...we took a lot of heat in that first 30 minutes."
He was upbeat about Banks fitting in well after a long lay-off.
"From the moment he stepped on tour, Tom has put the team first and shown his leadership with the younger players," Gilmore said.
"That was a very good try with his two touches and I thought he covered a lot of ground in defence."
Gilmore was also positive about Fa'amausili pushing hard through 50 minutes.
"It's probably the longest he has played for a while. He carries hard, he's mobile and he does damage. His challenge is building that base so he can play at least a strong 50 or 60 every time," Gilmore said.
AUSTRALIA A 22 (T Banks, J Campbell, R Asiata tries; R Lonergan con, pen goal, T Edmed con) beat JAPAN XV 21 (K Matsushima, M Leitch tries: A Lee con, 3 pen goal)
Half-time: Australia A 10-8
