The Australia and Japan national rugby teams toured each other in a two-test, home-and-away series in August 2026. The tour was known as the 2026 Lipovitan-D Challenge Cup in Japan (), and the 2026 Flight Centre Series in Australia for sponsorship reasons. The matches were confirmed by Rugby Australia (RA) in November 2025 following the restructuring of the annual Rugby Championship into a revised cycle, under which the competition is held in three consecutive years (2027, 2028, 2029) before being postponed in the fourth (2030, to make way for the 2026 and 2030 New Zealand/South Africa tours.
Australia won the series 2–0 after defeating Japan in a close match in Osaka, before winning the series in the following test in Australia, winning by 39 points.
Background Prior to 2017, encounters between Australia and Japan were sparse. The two nations met only four times in test matches: twice during Japan's 1975 tour of Australia, and twice in the Rugby World Cup (RWC). From 2017 onward, fixtures between the sides became more regular, and domestic teams from both countries began engaging in pre-season and post-season tours, most notably the Queensland Reds, New South Wales Waratahs, Saitama Wild Knights, and Kubota Spears.
The Australia–Japan rugby relationship intensified significantly during 2023–2024, following revelations by The Sydney Morning Herald that Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones had been in discussions regarding a return to the Japan national coaching role while still in charge of Australia during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The episode attracted significant scrutiny in the Australian media (Eddie Jones § JRFU controversy).
Schedule Date Venue Home Score Away 8 August 32–35 15 August 56–17
Venues Australia's venue was confirmed on 26 November 2025, following Rugby Australia's release of their 2026 schedule. The venue, known as North Queensland Stadium and located in Townsville, had only hosted three test matches at the time of the announcement. In February 2026, the Japan Rugby Football Union released their 2026 schedule, and revealed their home test would be played at Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Higashiōsaka. Both teams were yet to face one another at each other's designated home venues, with Japan having not played Australia on Australian soil since the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987.
Japan Higashiōsaka Hanazono Rugby Stadium Capacity: 30,000 Australia Townsville North Queensland Stadium Capacity: 25,455
Squads Caps and ages are as of the first match of the series (8 August 2026).
Australia On 23 July 2026, new coach Les Kiss named a 34-man squad ahead of the two-test series against Japan. Only three new players were named in the team from Australia's previous squad that took part in the 2026 Nations Championship Southern Hemisphere Series in June.
On 5 August, Massimo de Lutiis was added to the Wallabies squad as training cover for Zane Nonggorr who suffered a minor calf strain.
On 10 August, Tom Hooper was added to the Wallabies squad. On 11 August Joseph-Aukuso Sua'ali'i was ruled out of the second test due to injury and was replaced by Josh Flook.
Head Coach: Les Kiss
Japan On 23 July 2026, Japan announced a 34-man training camp ahead of the two test series.
On 10 August, Keijiro Tamefusa, Haruto Watanabe, Shota Taira, and Kippei Ishida were dropped for the second test. Takumi Inaba, Yuki Ikeda, and Sam Greene came in as replacements.
Head Coach: Eddie Jones
Test series First test
FB 15Takurō Matsunaga RW 14Kazuma Ueda OC 13Dylan Riley IC 12Samisoni Tua LW 11Taira Main FH 10Ryūnosuke Itō SH 9 Naoto Saitō N8 8 Faulua Makisi OF 7 Kanji Shimokawa BF 6 Ben Gunter RL 5 Warner Dearns (c) LL 4 Jack Cornelsen TP 3 Shuhei Takeuchi HK 2 Hayate Era LP 1 Takato Okabe Substitutions:PR 16Mamoru Harada HK 17Sojiro Otsuka PR 18Keijiro Tamefusa LK 19Harry Hockings BR 20Michael Leitch BR 21Tiennan Costley FB 22Shunsuke Uenobo FB 23Yoshitaka Yazaki Coach:Eddie Jones FB 15Tom Wright RW 14Max Jorgensen OC 13Joseph Sua'ali'i IC 12Hunter Paisami LW 11Harry Potter FH 10Declan Meredith SH 9 Ryan Lonergan N8 8 Harry Wilson (c) OF 7 Fraser McReight BF 6 Rob Valetini RL 5 Miles Amatosero LL 4 Josh Canham TP 3 Allan Alaalatoa HK 2 Josh Nasser LP 1 Aidan Ross Substitutions:HK 16Billy Pollard PR 17Angus Bell PR 18Taniela Tupou LK 19Jeremy Williams BR 20Charlie Cale SH 21Tate McDermott FH 22Ben Donaldson CE 23Isaac Henry Coach:Les Kiss Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand) Morgan White (Hong Kong China) Television match official: Richard Kelly (New Zealand) Foul play review officer: Matt Rodden (Hong Kong China) Notes: Isaac Henry (Australia) made his international debut. Japan's 32 points was the most they had scored against Australia in a test match, surpassing their previous record of 30 set in 2017.
Second test
FB 15Tom WrightRW 14Max Jorgensen OC 13Hunter PaisamiIC 12Isaac HenryLW 11Harry PotterFH 10Carter Gordon SH 9 Ryan Lonergan N8 8 Harry Wilson (c)OF 7 Carlo TizzanoBF 6 Charlie CaleRL 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto LL 4 Lachlan Shaw TP 3 Taniela Tupou HK 2 Josh Nasser LP 1 Angus Bell Substitutions:HK 16Brandon Paenga-Amosa PR17Aidan Ross PR 18Massimo de Lutiis LK 19Jeremy Williams BR 20Fraser McReight SH 21Tate McDermott FH 22Ben Donaldson CE 23Filipo Daugunu Coach:Les Kiss FB 15Takurō MatsunagaRW 14Yoshitaka YazakiOC 13Dylan RileyIC 12Shunsuke UenoboLW 11Haruto Kida FH 10Ryūnosuke ItōSH 9 Naoto Saitō N8 8 Faulua Makisi OF 7 Tiennan Costley BF 6 Ben Gunter RL 5 Warner Dearns (c)LL 4 Harry HockingsTP 3 Shuhei Takeuchi HK 2 Hayate Era LP 1 Takato Okabe Substitutions:HK 16Mamoru Harada PR 17Sojiro Otsuka PR 18Izi Sword LK 19Jack Cornelsen BR 20Michael Leitch SH 21Itsuki Kamimura FH 22Samisoni Tua WG 23Kazuma Ueda Coach:Eddie Jones Assistant referees: Angus Mabey (New Zealand) Marcus Playle (New Zealand) Television match official: Glenn Newman (New Zealand) Foul play review officer: Richard Kelly (New Zealand) Notes: Massimo de Lutiis (Australia) made his international debut, becoming Wallaby No. 1000. In three test matches, this was Australia's largest score at North Queensland Stadium, surpassing their previous high of 28 points in 2025.
Statistics
Points scorers Player Team 1 Ryan Lonergan 18 2 Taniela Tupou 15 3 Takurō Matsunaga 14 4 Ben Donaldson 8 5 Harry Potter 5 Tom Wright Max Jorgensen Fraser McReight Ryūnosuke Itō Faulua Makisi Kazuma Ueda Warner Dearns Harry Hockings Josh Nasser Angus Bell Massimo de Lutiis Charlie Cale Harry Wilson Brandon Paenga-Amosa
Try scorers Player Team 1 Taniela Tupou 3 2 Ryūnosuke Itō 1 Max Jorgensen Faulua Makisi Kazuma Ueda Warner Dearns Harry Potter Tom Wright Fraser McReight Josh Nasser Angus Bell Massimo de Lutiis Charlie Cale Harry Wilson Brandon Paenga-Amosa Naoto Saitō Dylan Riley Harry Hockings
See also 2026 Australia tour of Argentina 2026 New Zealand tour of South Africa 2026 men's rugby union internationals
References