The result may have been predictable, but at least Australia served notice that the description should not extend to the story of this tournament as a whole. There was nothing earth-shattering about their performance, but enough intimations of intent for the watching world to realise the Wallabies’ quest to maintain their clean sweep of northern-hemisphere World Cups cannot be dismissed easily.

All their historical bedrocks, the majesty of their half-backs and the devilry of their midfield, have come shuddering back to the surface at the right moment, while equally established stumbling blocks like that catastrophic scrum appear, for the moment, to be receding.

Both parts of the equation will face far sterner examination than John Kirwan’s hopelessly delicate Brave Blossoms could muster yesterday, but Australia have a habit of returning top marks when it really counts. Thirteen tries and 91 points seem a decent enough opening line for this particular assignment.

No trouble on the field, and no trouble off it. Those Australians weary of hearing of their side’s haphazard nocturnal timekeeping may have raised an eyebrow upon opening their morning papers, where it was relayed that several of John Connolly’s players had paid a visit to a bar on Lyons’s main Place des Terreaux last Thursday night.

Thankfully, its owner was quick to clarify that no drink had been taken on what was essentially a meet-and-greet for the battalion of Antipodean fans whose golden shirts have been on every corner here since the middle of last week.

Yet as this game shed itself of any competitive edge with predictably indecent haste, it was hard to escape the conclusion that a forced prematch intake of the strong stuff might have actually been a decent leveller.

The main contenders still have to join the dots, of course, and Australia were quick on the draw just about everywhere it counted. These may have been fairly sterile Test conditions, but there was enough hard evidence to firm up the pretournament hypothesis that theirs is the World Cup back-line with the most vivid imagination and the broadest sweep of skills.

Stephen Larkham showed the native French audience a tantalising trailer of his gifts ahead of a posttournament switch to Tou-louse, which should be imminently confirmed after an intended move to Edinburgh foundered.

When it mattered, the 33-year-old was razor sharp at the apex of a sumptuous midfield triangle shored up by Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock, repeatedly slipping one of these willing raiders in on a scissors. Mortlock, after showcasing a more sophisticated bent during the TriNations, was never forced to go beyond the primitive bounds of his usual crash-ball self, splintering the Japanese midfield with repetitive ease. It will be interesting to see whether Wales dare field the brave but willowy James Hook in the inside-centre channel in Cardiff on Saturday.

There will be many other big calls for Gareth Jenkins and his players to get right if they are to waylay what already has the look of a route march towards the head of the Pool B table. George Gregan, on a fourth appearance at this top table, gorged himself and subsequently so did any number of line-hitting runners on the quick ball being shuttled back by the Australian pack.

Those careworn Wallaby forwards gave the impression that they have finally tired of being cast as the ham-fisted vandals of all the backs’ good work. Admittedly, their scrum was never put under any serious strain by the scale-model inhabitants of the Japanese front row, but such has been its travails that any hint of competence will be heralded back home.

On a ground accustomed to set-piece brilliance (Lyon’s Brazilian Juninho is perhaps the best taker of a free-kick in world football), the Australian lineout, in the shape of Nathan Sharpe and Daniel Vickerman, was its usual font of the crisp first-phase ball that Gregan can circulate along the back-line to such effect.

While Wales may be their immediate priority, Australia’s longer-term yardstick remains New Zealand. To this end, with only 23 points on the board by the interval, their main diversion in the second half was attempting to emulate the 62-point winning margin the All Blacks had registered further south.

They rattled off 10 scores in the second half, compared to the three of the first. Five of them came from substitutes, and for a time it seemed that Australia only had to hold up the replacement board for Japan to start waving the white flag. The one consolation for Kirwan was that his team prevented the Wallabies from notching up a century. It falls to bigger men to stop them inscribing their name on the Webb Ellis Cup once again.

Star man: Stephen Larkham(Australia)

Australia:C Latham (Reds); A Ashley-Cooper (ACT, D Mitchell (Western Force) 59min), S Mortlock (ACT, capt, M Gerrard (ACT) 68min), M Giteau (Force), L Tuqiri (NSW); S Larkham (ACT, B Barnes (Reds) 54min), G Gregan (ACT); M Dunning (NSW), S Moore (Reds, A Freier (NSW) 67min), A Baxter (NSW, G Shepherdson (ACT) 51min), N Sharpe (Force, H McMeniman (Reds) 51min), D Vickerman (NSW), R Elsom (NSW), G Smith (ACT), W Palu (NSW, S Hoiles (ACT) 67min).

Japan:T Kusumi (Verblitz); T Kitagawa (Wild Knights) K Taira (Sungoliath), N Oto (Brave Lupus), H Onozawa (Sungoliath); K Ono (Sanix Blues), Y Yatomi (Jubilo); M Yamamoto (Verbitz), T Inokuchi (Brave Lupus), R Yamamura (Jubilo), T Kumagae (Green Rockets), L Samurai Vatuvei (Liners), Y Watanabe (Brave Lupus, H Makiri (Sanix Blues) 9-11min), T Sasaki (capt, Sungoliath, H Makiri (Sanix Blues) 48min), Hajime Kiso (Jubilo).

Scorers: Australia: Tries:Sharpe, Elsom (3), Ashley-Cooper, Latham (2), Barnes (2), Mitchell (2), Smith, Freier. Cons:Mortlock (7), Giteau (3). Pens:Mortlock (2)

Japan: Pen:Ono

Referee:A Lewis (Ireland) Attendance:40,043