But their win did not come without a tenacious challenge from the Japanese, ranked 15th in the world they were leading the match at half time - much to the surprise of the international hockey community and Australian fans.

And in doing so, they put the highly-fancied Australians on notice after what has been a tumultuous 18 months leading into the Games with limited international match play due to the pandemic.

Coach Colin Batch said the Kookaburras had not underestimated Japan, but needed to be smarter with the ball and play to their own game style, not their opponents.

“We played into their tactics a little bit, assisted their counterattack,” he said of his side, which claimed 58% of ball possession throughout the match.

“While we set out not to do that before the game, we were not good in the second quarter and learned a lot from it.

“We had good composure in the first quarter and a very good second half.

“Japan is a good side; very fast, good counterattack, we didn’t take them lightly, but we needed to be smarter with what we did with the ball.”

With 11 Australian players making their Olympic debut, there is no questions nerves were evident.

Japan put them under pressure early in the match earning two penalty corners in the opening five minutes but confident keeping by veteran goalie Andrew Charter kept the host nation scoreless.

The Kookaburras’ were quick to respond with Olympic debutant Tim Brand combining with Trent Mitton and Tom Wickman to convert with a lethal one-touch to put Australia on the scoreboard.

Not to be outdone, Brand’s housemate, Tom Craig, broke through the Japanese defence just three minutes later to give the tournament favourite a 2-0 lead going into the first break.

Japan may have been without the advantage of the home crowd, but that didn’t stop the host nation from taking it to the Australians, scoring a hattrick of goals in just six minutes.

Kenta Tanaka stunned with a powerful backhander in the 22nd minute, Yoshiki Kirishita levelled with a deflection in the 26th minute and a quick touch by Tanaka in 27th minute saw the Japanese take the lead 3-2 in what was an outstanding first half for the world number 15 team.

The Kookaburras’ steadied after the break with a converted penalty corner in the first four minutes giving drag flick specialist Blake Govers his 90th goal and first of the tournament.

Co-captain Aran Zalewski impressed just four minutes later with a spectacular tomahawk off a feed from Daniel Beale to help the Kookaburras retake the lead 4-3 in the third quarter.

Australia steadied in the final quarter with Brand and Daniel Beale combining in the 50th minute to beat hard-working Japanese keeper Takashi Yoshikawa and give Beale his first goal of the tournament.

“It’s been a tough 18 months and we’re finally here, it’s starting to feel real now,” Brand said.

“We started the game really well with a good first quarter, and then credit to them, they really gave us a test; that’s what it’s all about at the Olympics, every game is a hard one.

“At half time, the coach just said to stick what we planned and keep going out there trying. In the end, it was a good win. Happy with that.”

Their focus will now be on recovery in preparation for their second-round match Sunday night (19:30 AEST JULY 25) against world number five India. The Kookaburras plan was to build through the tournament and they’ll be looking to do that against India.

Catriona Dixon

Match Details

• Japan 3 (Tanaka 22’/27’, Kirishita 26’)
• Kookaburras 5 (Brand 11’, Craig 14’, Govers 34’, Zalewski 38’, Beale 50’)
• @ Oi Hockey Stadium, Tokyo

Kookaburras: 2.Tom Craig, 5.Tom Wickham, 6.Matthew Dawson, 11.Eddie Ockenden, 12.Jake Whetton, 13.Blake Govers, 14.Dylan Martin, 15.Josh Simmonds, 16.Tim Howard, 17.Aran Zalewski (c), 22.Flynn Ogilvie, 23.Daniel Beale, 25.Trent Mitton, 29.Tim Brand, 30.Andrew Charter (gk), 32.Jeremy Hayward

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