The 27-year-old is hoping to justify the excitement when Japan take on England at Allianz Stadium on Sunday – live on TNT Sports.
Riley made the rugby world sit up and take two notice with two memorable tries in the Pacific Nations Cup earlier this year. Against USA, he collected the ball in his own half, before setting off on a mazy run through the Eagles’ defence that culminated with him diving over the try-line.
A week later, against Fiji in the final, he took a pass drifting wide, but immediately cut back inside, shook off four defenders and then collected his chip-and-chase to score. While Fiji finished victorious, Riley’s score meant that he had added a few more admirers to the list.
He has certainly impressed his boss, with Japan coach Eddie Jones claiming “he has the potential to be the best number thirteen in the world”. This year, he is third for most metres gained by any player in a Tier 1 nation (648), behind the Wallabies' Tom Wright and the All Blacks' Will Jordan - both back three players.
Riley admits he wants to become more consistent, and ensure he’s equally well-regarded in attack and defence, but for now he and Jones will be aiming to inflict a seventh consecutive defeat on Steve Borthwick’s team.
“To hear someone that's been around some really great teams and had really great success with a lot of teams over the years say something like that means a lot,” Riley told us. “It only gives me more motivation to hopefully strive to do it, to get to that stage.
“In terms of the team ripping [teasing] me about it, no not really. I think we're just kind of focusing on our game and what we can do to win more matches. That's the big thing that we're trying to do.”
Eddie's return
Unlike their hosts, the Brave Blossoms start the match off the back of a victory. After losing 52-12 to France in Paris, Japan headed to the French Alps, where they faced Uruguay in Chambéry.
They ended a run of three defeats with a 36-20 win, and Riley again showed his try-scoring prowess with a late score to wrap up victory.
However, in June, the last time the sides met, England ran in six tries to win 52-17 in Tokyo. It was a similar score when they faced each other at Allianz Stadium in 2022, with Jones leading his then side to a 52-13 triumph.
“It was our first game under new coaching staff,” Riley said. “It was a new team, quite young. I think we started the game really well and in the first 20 minutes we showed what kind of game we want to play, but just couldn't hold that through the whole game and England just picked their moments.
“What they're going through is not something that we like to focus on. That's something they are focusing on. We’ve also got our things to work on as well. First and foremost, we just want to put out a really good performance to finish off the tour. We're not too worried about outside noise.”
Sunday’s match will be the second time that Jones has coached against England since he left his role as England head coach following the 2022 Autumn Nations Series. It will also be his second visit to England Rugby HQ after he coached the Barbarians against Fiji in June 2024.
Riley played in the 2022 encounter, as well as their 2023 Rugby World Cup clash in Nice. He enjoyed playing at the stadium in south-west London, and it is an occasion he remembers vividly.
“That stadium, it's loud,” he said. “I think there was something like 80,000 people there. It was probably the biggest crowd that I played in up until that point.
“It was an unbelievable experience to be able to play at a ground like Twickenham which has a lot of history. I remember the chants and being loud throughout the game. We fell short by quite a bit, so this time we want to do a little bit better.”
Tokyo calling
Riley is one of rugby’s wanderers. He was born in South Africa but moved to Australia with his family when he was young.
He played for Australia’s under-20s, but after he failed to earn a Super Rugby contract decided to chance his luck in Japan with Saitama Wild Knights. It was an inspired move and as soon as he qualified on residential grounds, then Japan coach Jamie Joseph gave him a call.
With three years left on his contract with the Wild Knights, Riley has no plans to go anywhere else. He has settled in well to life in Japan, cycling to training and working to improve his language skills.
Once the match is over Riley has plans to stay in Europe for a few weeks and see some of the sights that can pass a player by on a long tour. Then it will be back to Japan and a chance to look back on a tour in which Japan’s new generation of players enjoyed some respectable results and put in the foundations for the next few years.
“I think we probably just look to put out the last good performance for the year,” he said. “It's a big game. We played them once already this year and were short a little bit. So, we’re looking to kind of make it one better and finish off the tour strongly.
“We know what kind of game we want to play. It's just figuring a few little things out and once it clicks, we'll know exactly what that feels like, and hopefully keep building on that.
“It's such a new team, it's so young, and I think it is a team that's going to build over the next couple of years. We do understand that, but we still want to prove that we can play good rugby at this point.”
England v Japan, Sunday 24th November, 16:10. Live on TNT Sports.
