Canada drop heartbreaker to Japan

Canada suffered a gut-wrenching defeat to Japan by a score of 26-22 on Saturday in front of more than 10,000 at BC Place in Vancouver. A last-gasp attack saw man-of-the-match Djustice Sears-Duru held up and just inches away from the winning score. While Canada played well enough to win – outscoring Japan four tries to two – they will rue two key mistakes, a lack of discipline, and an off-day for their goal-kickers in what could have been a comfortable victory.

The home side started in rampant form, putting up a red well in defense with several big hits coming in early from the likes of Sears-Duru, Evan Olmstead, and Jamie Cudmore. It was Taylor Paris who got on the board first, coming in off his wing to slip through a half-gap and slide over the line. Gordon McRorie couldn’t connect with the extras, one of four missed shots at goal for the halfback on the day.

On the other hand Yu Tamura was doing his best Ayumu Goromaru impression with the boot, executing with laser-like precision from the tee. His first penalty goal sailed over on 11 minutes, but Canada were still every much the dominant side. Another sustained attack saw Lucas Rumball break through and after multiple phases near the line it was Ray Barkwill who burrowed over, with McRorie on target this time.

With Canada failing to take points on offer, Japan got a break when flanker Taiyo Ando ripped the ball away from Nick Blevins and sped away, getting caught by the cover deep in Canadian territory. A penalty gave Japan the chance to kick for the corner, and the ensuing lineout maul proved unstoppable as Takeshi Kizu was driven over to close the gap to two. Tamura erased it with a penalty goal on the stroke of halftime to give Japan an unlikely lead at the intermission.

Japan appeared to be fired up when the teams returned, but again the Canadian defense held strong and instead it was the home side who landed a riposte. A clear chip-and-chase from Matt Evans was gathered by Mifiposeta Paea but the Canuck fullback took man and ball and drove the winger into in-goal. The resulting scrum gave Aaron Carpenter a platform to attack and though the no8 was stopped short, Cudmore was on hand to finish it off and restore Canada’s lead.

A moment of ill-discipline from Carpenter at the bottom of a tackle cost him 10 minutes in the bin soon after and gave Tamura his third penalty goal of the game. With Japan a man up and on the attack Yoshiya Hosoda had an even more egregious moment of madness, crashing into the head of a defenseless McRorie buried in a ruck. Referee Federico Anselmi had no choice but to brandish a red card, bringing a dishonorable close to the flanker’s maiden voyage in senior Japanese colors.

Despite the man advantage Canada could not find their way back to the scorecards until it was too late. Instead replacement scrumhalf Kaito Shigeno spotted a gaping hole on the post and found Kotaro Matsushima screaming onto his shoulder to strike a killer blow. Tamura was on song for the conversion, and again for a penalty goal soon after to all-but-end Canadian hopes.

To their credit the Maple Leafs refused to concede. Carpenter made good on the end of their own rolling maul, and from the restart they patiently went through phase after phase, hammering their way down to the Japanese line. Sears-Duru powered over, as he had all day, but the defense was under him and held it up short. The final whistle sounded and relief poured from the Brave Blossoms as the Canadians met bitter disappointment once more.

Canada will take great heart from the performance which was largely positive both in effort and execution. They now look favorites as they welcome Russia to Calgary in a week’s time. Japan, meanwhile, will have mixed feelings on the performance but will be thrilled with the result under the circumstances. They now return home to host Scotland in a two-match series with a number of veteran players set to return to test duty.

CANADA 22
Tries – T. Paris (7), R. Barkwill (21), J. Cudmore (45), A. Carpenter (79)
Cons – G. McRorie (22)
Yellow cards – A. Carpenter (51)

JAPAN 26
Tries – T. Kizu (34), K. Matsushima (70)
Cons – Y. Tamura 2 (35, 71)
Pens – Y. Tamura 4 (11, 40, 52, 77)
Red cards – Y. Hosoda (54)

CANADA
1 Djustice Sears-Duru 2 Ray Barkwill (Eric Howard 68) 3 Jake Ilnicki (Tom Dolezel 73) 4 Jamie Cudmore (capt.) (Paul Ciulini 61) 5 Evan Olmstead 6 Kyle Baillie (Alistair Clark 67) 7 Lucas Rumball (Matt Heaton 55) 8 Aaron Carpenter 9 Gordon McRorie 10 Patrick Parfrey (Jamie Mackenzie 61) 11 Taylor Paris (Mozac Samson 71) 12 Nick Blevins 13 Brock Staller 14 Dan Moor 15 Matt Evans

Not used: Matt Tierney

JAPAN
1 Keita Inagaki 2 Takeshi Kizu 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama (Shinnosuke Kakinaga 50) 4 Kazuhiko Usami (Kotaro Yatabe 72) 5 Naohiro Kotaki 6 Yoshiya Hosoda 7 Taiyo Ando (Shokei Kin 46) 8 Kyosuke Horie 9 Fumiaki Tanaka (Kaito Shigeno HT) 10 Yu Tamura 11 Yasutaka Sasakura (Rikiya Matsuda 77) 12 Harumichi Tatekawa (capt.) 13 Tim Bennetts (Kosei Ono 72) 14 Mifiposeti Paea 15 Kotaro Matsushima

Not used: Futoshi Mori, Masataka Mikami

Referee: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
Assistants: Kurt Weaver (USAR) & Derek Summers (USAR)

Attendance: 10,250