Canada makes late comeback to deprive Japan of a win in Rugby World Cup 2011
A strong comeback from Canada dashed Japan’s hopes of a victory in the Rugby World Cup after the Canadians created the first draw of the ongoing global showpiece on September 27. Japan was leading the match by 23-15 with just six minutes left in the game
but a late surge from Ander Morno ended the battle which hung in the balance and was concluded at 23-23.
Before the start of the match, Sione Vatuvei made his way back into the Japanese side as he replaced Itaru Taniguchi. In the other changes to the Japanese side, prop Nozomu Fujita took over from benched Kensuke Hatakeyama. Their head coach, John Kirwan,
told reporters earlier that his main concern at the moment was to obtain results rather than making more changes in their last match of the Rugby World Cup 2011.
Meanwhile, Canada also made just one change in their starting lineup as Matt Evans was preferred over Ciaran Hearn on the right wing for this particular game at McLean Park, Napier.
Canada shocked the Japanese with a classical try from Van Der Merwe in the beginning of the match. Canada was leading the match by 7-0 just after nine minutes of play and thus they laid a strong base to clinch the first victory of the tournament. Japan paid
back the favour in the same fashion just a couple of minutes later and equalised the score at 7-7 as Shota Horie found the try line.
The Asian champions, Japan, put some extra effort in the match and added quick points to their total at the end of the first-half well ahead of Canada with 17-7. Canada, despite desperate efforts, could not give a tough time to the Japanese and were looking
towards another defeat in RWC 2011.
An excellent contest was seen in the second part of the game as Canada left no stone unturned to come back into the match. Phil MacKenzie elevated his side with a five pointer very early in the second half to bring some excitement into the match. They narrowed
down the deficit to 15-17 with 16 minutes left before the final whistle.
Japan further enhanced their total to 23-15 and gave a ray of hope to their supporters for victory but a nice bounce back from Canada deprived them from a much needed victory. Ander Morno scored eight points for his team in the last six minutes and saved
his side from another debacle. The match ended in a draw with 23-23 after a great battle.
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