Japan became the first country to record a victory in the new Epson Cup Pacific Rim tournament after defeating Canada 23-21 in the Prince Chichibu Memorial Ground, Tokyo.
The Canadians looked as if their superiority in the forwards would set the foundation for a victory, until some astute substistutions in the Japanese front-five brought the home side back into the game after trailing 10-11 at half-time.
The new found stability of the Japanese forwards set the foundation for former All Black Jamie Joseph to score on 68 minutes to add to an earlier try by captain Andrew McCormick. Stand-off Keiji Hirose contributed 13 points with the boot, converting both tries and adding three penalties. In reply Canada scored tries through left wing Courtney Smith and openside Dan Baugh with stand-off Bob Ross kicking three penalties but one conversion. His second conversion attempt would have tied the scores.
The teams:
Canada: 1 Rod Snow, 2 Pat Dunkley, 3 John Thiel, 4 Tony Healy, 5 John Tait, 6 Ryan Banks, 7 John Hutchinson, 8 Dan Baugh, 9 John Graf, 10 Bobby Ross, 11 Jeremy Cordle, 12 Kyle Nichols, 13 Winston Stanley, 14 Courtney Smith, 15 Joe Pagano
Reserves: Richard Bice, Rob Robson, Chris Whittaker
Japan: 1 Kenji Kasai, 2 Shin Hasegawa, 3 Toshikazu Nakamichi, 4 Robert Gordon, 5 Hiroyuki Tanuma, 6 Jamie Joseph, 7 Yasunori Watanabe, 8 Greg Smith, 9 Graeme Bachop, 10 Keiji Hirose, 11 Terunori Masuho, 12 Andrew McCormick (c), 13 Yukio Motoki, 14 Daisuke Ohata, 15 Tsutomu Matsuda
Reserves: Kensuke Iwabuchi, Naoto Nakamura, Yoshihiko Sakuraba, Masaaki Sakata
Attendance: 13000
Referee: Masunu Talapusi (Samoa)
Points Scorers:
Canada
Tries: Baugh D.R. 1, Smith C.D. 1
Conv: Ross R.P. 1
Pen K.: Ross R.P. 3
Japan
Tries: Joseph J.W. 1, McCormick A. 1
Conv: Hirose K. 2
Pen K.: Hirose K. 3
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