Substitute Koji Taira scored an injury time try and Shotaro Onishi slotted a nerve-jangling conversion with the last kick of the game on Tuesday to earn Japan a 12-12 tie with Canada, the first draw of the sixth Rugby World Cup.
Canada looked to have the game won after hooker Pat Riordan scored a try two minutes after coming out of the sinbin to spur a second-half revival and winger Dth van der Merwe also crossed the Japanese line in the 65th. But the Canucks could not keep Japan out at the end and in the end a draw was a fair result.
"I think today was like a World Cup final for both Japan and Canada and I think 40,000 people have probably gone away pretty happy," Japan coach John Kirwan said.
PHOTO: AP
The draw at Bordeaux's Stade Chaban-Delmas will likely end Canada's record of winning at least one game at every World Cup. The Canucks' last Group B match is against Australia, with the Wallabies odds on favorites.
"We have to look at ourselves and make sure we do enough to win games," Canada coach Ric Suggitt said. "We had opportunities in the second half to pull away and we didn't do it."
Canada captain Morgan Williams was enraged that South African referee Jonathan Kaplan did not blow full time earlier. He also said that his first-half try, disallowed by the video ref, should have been allowed.
"The ball went out in the 81st minute and then we played an extra three minutes after that," Williams said.
"I don't know, was his watch broken, or was he blind?" Williams asked.
The shared spoils did, however, end Japan's record 13-game World Cup losing streak. The Cherry Blossoms' only victory came against Zimbabwe in 1991.
With both sides already eliminated from Group B, only pride was at stake and it was Japan who wanted the win more in the first half -- repeatedly beating Canada to breakdown ball and pulling off a string of big hits in midfield.
The Japanese backs also looked threatening but handling errors cost them early.
Kosuke Endo finally made the Japanese pressure pay in the 12th minute when he ran hard onto a short pass in midfield and plowed over Canadian flyhalf Ryan Smith and then shrugged off another attempted tackle by van der Merwe to cross the line.
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