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Canada’s lead-in to Rugby World Cup 1999 began in Tokyo, where they took on hosts Japan in front of 13,000 fans at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium on May 1. It was the opening match of the revised Pacific Rim Championship, with six countries competing in the round-robin format that would later be renamed the Pacific Nations Cup.
Veteran scrumhalf John Graf captained the side just months before ceding the starting role to the precociously talented Morgan Williams. He partnered Bob Ross in the halfbacks with an experimental backline that saw Winston Stanley given a rare start at center (he would play there just twice) and Welsh-born winger Jeremy Cordle in his second test start.
The forwards had a more settled look with much of the starting pack continuing through to France later that year. Ryan Banks was making his test debut in an enormously physical loose forward trio alongside flankers Danny Baugh and John Hutchinson. Rob Robson came off the bench to win the second of just three caps in his XVs career.
Seiji Hirao, one of Japan’s greatest players of the amateur era, was in the middle of his tenure as Head Coach and selected a side with five New Zealanders in the starting side including captain Andrew McCormick. The first-time inclusion of two former All Blacks, Graeme Bachop and future coach Jamie Joseph, was controversial at the time.
Young tighthead prop Kenji Kasai was making his test debut in an otherwise formidable lineup. The backline in particular bristled with talent, with the outside back trio of Terunori Masuho, Daisuke Ohata, and Tsutomu Matsuda considered among the fastest in the world. Replacement fullback Goshi Tachikawa made his test bow as a first half replacement for Matsuda.
JAPAN
1 Toshikazu Nakamichi, 2 Shin Hasegawa, 3 Kenji Kasai, 4 Robert Gordon, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Yasunori Watanabe, 7 Greg Smith, 8 Jamie Joseph, 9 Graeme Bachop, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Terunori Masuho, 12 Yukio Motoki, 13 Andrew McCormick (capt.), 14 Daisuke Ohata, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Replacements: 16 Goshi Tachikawa, 17 Kensuke Iwabuchi, 18 Masami Horikoshi, 19 Takeomi Ito, 20 Yoshihiko Sakuraba, 21 Naoto Nakamura, 22 Masaaki Sakata
CANADA
1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 Jon Thiel, 4 John Tait, 5 Tony Healy, 6 John Hutchinson, 7 Danny Baugh, 8 Ryan Banks, 9 John Graf (capt.), 10 Bob Ross, 11 Courtney Smith, 12 Kyle Nichols, 13 Winston Stanley, 14 Jeremy Cordle, 15 Joe Pagano
Replacements: 16 Julian Loveday, 17 Scott Bryan, 18 Mark Cardinal, 19 Rob Robson, 20 Chris Whittaker, 21 Brian McCarthy, 22 Richard Bice
Referee: Masunu Talapusi (Samoa)
Assistants: Nabuaki Tanaka (Japan) & Shinsuke Shimoi (Japan)
Attendance: 13,000
