Japan’s pack sets the pace and finishes the job as Canada fold around half-time
What this game really told us is that Japan don’t need to dazzle wide when their forwards are this sharp and their ruck speed this clean. The pace of their recycle strangled Canada’s line speed and, once in the red zone, they were decisive. Seven of nine tries came from the pack. That isn’t an accident; it’s tempo turning into territory, then into close-range conviction.
Canada were still on the field but not yet switched back on when the contest flipped from contest to cruise. A punch on the stroke of the break from Mamoru Harada and an immediate afters from Kanji Shimokawa stretched 24–7 to 31–7 inside a minute either side of half-time. That double hit didn’t just add points; it removed hope. From there, Japan’s rhythm did the rest.
Japan
Canada
T. Okabe (4'), M. Harada (14', 40'), B. Gunter (21'), Y. Hirose (26'), K. Shimokawa (40'), H. Hockings (59'), T. Inaba (79'), T. Costley (83')
Tries
T. McMullin (18'), B. LeSage (61')
T. Matsunaga (15', 26', 40+1', 41'), S. Greene (80', 85')
Conversions
T. McMullin (19')
The mechanics behind it were simple and ruthless. Japan won the race to the floor and away from it: 65% of their rucks were cleared inside three seconds against Canada’s 51%. That speed created front-foot ball, which in turn produced volume: 17 entries into the 22 to Canada’s six, and a 3.3 points-per-entry return once they got there. Back it with stable set piece — 11/11 scrums, 10/11 lineouts — and Canada’s defence spent too long camped on their own line making low-percentage tackles.
Match Stats
CARRIES
CLEAN BREAK
DEFENDER BEATEN
TACKLE
MISSED TACKLE
TURNOVER WON
TURNOVERS CONCEDED
PENALTY CONCEDED
POSSESSION
SCRUMS
LINEOUTS
The try sheet says as much. Takato Okabe set the tone with an early pick-and-drive finish, Harada helped himself to a brace from close range, Ben Gunter smashed over from momentum that had nowhere else to go, and later Harry Hockings and replacement prop Takumi Inaba cashed in when Canada’s shoulders had dropped. Japan didn’t overcomplicate the red zone; they refused the cute pass for the sure carry and kept hammering the same seam until it cracked.
It wasn’t only blunt force. Out wide, Inoke Burua kept bending the line and forced Canada to fold extra bodies around the edge, which only made the tight carries harder to stop. Naoto Saito’s service and Ryunosuke Ito’s tempo choices were brisk without being frantic; the ball spent its time with forwards arriving onto it, not standing still waiting to be hit. Off the tee, Takuro Matsunaga banked the early conversions that turn pressure into scoreboard separation, and later Sam Greene came on to steer the closing minutes and knock over two more.
If there was a wobble, Eddie Jones will circle the short lull before Hockings restored order on 59 minutes. That score mattered because Ben LeSage’s finish at 61, sparked by a sharp contribution from Liam James, hinted at a flicker of Canadian resistance. It didn’t last. Japan’s bench brought fresh carries and two more tries — Inaba on 79 and Tiennan Costley at 83 — plus Greene’s kicks to stretch the margin to something befitting the control they’d had all night.
For Canada, the first half offered a sliver of what they want to be. Takoda McMullin’s footwork for their opener and his conversion pulled it back to 12–7, and Lucas Rumball kept carrying when little else was going forward. They even finished with more turnovers won than Japan. But they couldn’t turn those steals into field position, and when they did reach the 22, they were half as efficient: six entries at two points each won’t hold most Tests, never mind away to a side this tidy. The bigger issue is what happened around half-time. Conceding in the 40th minute and again straight after the restart speaks to concentration and connection — the sort of moments where leaders need to slow things down. Their lineout at 76% creaked at the wrong times, and they spent too long defending five metres out with bodies set square and high.
Does the margin flatter Japan? Only a little. The late gloss came from the bench — Inaba, Costley, Greene — but by then the argument was already settled by ruck tempo and red-zone efficiency. If anything, Japan will be annoyed at 18 turnovers and a patch that let LeSage under the posts. Against higher-ranked sides that leak will become a problem. The shape, though, is clear: quick ball, forwards arriving onto contact, backs providing the bend not necessarily the finish.
Context matters. Japan started as clear favourites and played like it. What they take away is a template that travels: clean set piece, a pack that finishes, and speed on the deck that stresses defences more than any one-off play. The next step is tidying the handling and concentration dips so dominance turns into 80-minute strangulation against stronger opponents. Canada leave Niigata knowing their phase attack can create when they get sequence — McMullin was lively, LeSage clinical — but unless they fix their defensive organisation in the red zone and their focus across the break, they’ll keep spending long evenings trapped on their own line waiting for the inevitable.