Japan's College Star Ryunosuke Ito Stuns Australia With Brilliant Solo Try

A 21-year-old college student named Ryunosuke Ito made headlines on Saturday when he played a starring role for Japan's rugby team against Australia. Ito, who plays the flyhalf position, scored a solo try in the 11th minute and gave the Wallabies — Australia's national rugby team — a very tough time. Japan ended up losing the match 35–32, but Ito's exciting performance had fans and coaches talking. The game was played in Osaka, Japan, on August 8.

Ito had never played a professional rugby game before last month. Japan's coach, Eddie Jones, took a chance and picked him straight from Meiji University in Tokyo. That bold choice paid off quickly. Ito scored his first test try by stepping through Australia's defensive line and racing to the try zone all on his own.

Australia's new head coach, Les Kiss, said his team found Ito very hard to deal with. "He did hurt us a couple of times. He's a dangerous player, that's for sure," Kiss said after the match. Kiss also admitted that his team gave Japan too much space on the field early in the game, which let Ito show off his attacking skills. Australia held on to win 35–32 in a nine-try thriller, but they knew they had been in a real fight.

Ito's game was full of exciting moments. He made neat chip kicks, sharp passes, and clever runs that kept the Australian players guessing. Even before his try, he nearly set up a score for a teammate with a quick grubber kick and a smart flick pass. Not everything worked perfectly — one of his kicks bounced off a player and hit him in the head — but Ito showed the daring, creative style that coach Jones wants from his team.

Jones has been looking to Japanese universities for new talent. Many of Japan's professional clubs are filled with big-name foreign players, so Jones turned to colleges that have strong rugby traditions to find fresh Japanese stars. Ito is one of those players. He already impressed in a 27–10 win over Italy in early July, and he also played well in tough losses to Ireland and France. But it was against Australia that he truly showed the world what he could do.

Rugby runs in Ito's family. His older brother, Kotaro, is a professional player for the Tokyo Black Rams. His younger sister, Chihiro, plays college rugby for Waseda University, which is a big rival of Ito's own Meiji University. Next season, Ito will move up to the professional level, joining the Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath — the same club where famous New Zealand flyhalves Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie once played.

Jones believes that players like Ito, and fullback Yoshitaka Yazaki, show just how much rugby talent Japan has. He said that if the country keeps developing these young players and works with universities to give them top-level training, their potential is endless. "We don't know how good those players can be," Jones said. Australia and Japan will meet again on August 15, this time in Queensland, Australia, for the second game of the series.