OSAKA, Aug 8 (Reuters) - While new Australia coach Les Kiss talked up his team's resolve in seeing off a dogged Japan on Saturday, he was also happy to praise the opposition's flyhalf Ryunosuke Ito, a university student who dealt the Wallabies a few painful lessons.
Ito, 21, who had not played a professional game before he was thrust straight from university into the national side last month, stepped through Australia's backline to open the scoring in the 11th minute and secure his first test try.
His dazzling runs, neat chip kicks and snappy passing kept the Wallabies guessing right to the end as they eked out a 35-32 win in a helter-skelter, nine-try contest.
"He did hurt us a couple of times. He's a dangerous player, that's for sure," Kiss said of Ito, adding that his team gave Japan too much field position early on, allowing the flyhalf to express his attacking talent.
Australia will host Japan in the second leg of the series in Queensland on August 15.
SCHOLAR OF THE GAME
With Japan's professional sides packed with marquee foreign players, the national team's Australian coach Eddie Jones has widened the net in search of talent, turning to universities that have long had strong rugby traditions.
It was from Meiji University in Tokyo that Jones plucked the diminutive Ito, a fourth year student, and threw him into his first test, where he delivered an assured performance in a 27-10 win over Italy in early July.
Ito also started in spirited losses to highly-ranked Ireland and France, but it was against Australia that he showed his world-class credentials.
Even before his try, Ito unlocked Australia's defence with a neat grubber and a flick pass that nearly resulted in a score.
While it did not always come off - one of his wayward kicks, for example, rebounded off a player and struck him in the head - Ito embodied the flair and daring Jones has sought to instil in his side.
Ito has impressive rugby pedigree. His older brother Kotaro is a professional player with Tokyo's Black Rams and his younger sister Chihiro plays for Waseda University, Meiji's arch rivals.
He will follow in the footsteps of New Zealand rugby stars Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie next season, wearing the flyhalf jersey for Tokyo’s Suntory Sungoliath.
Jones has said Ito and other breakthrough university players, like fullback Yoshitaka Yazaki, underscore the depth of talent the country can call upon as they try to challenge top-tier sides.
"That sort of talent, if we can keep developing it, if we can work with the universities to make sure they keep getting high-performance training and exposure at the highest level, we don't know how good those players can be," he added.
(Reporting by John Geddie in Osaka; Editing by Ken Ferris)
