Pool B winners Australia made it four wins out of four as they laboured to a bonus-point victory over lowly Canada in the pouring rain in Bordeaux.Tries from Al Baxter and Adam Frier helped a second-string Wallaby side into a 13-0 half-time lead.

Canada got on the board through two James Pritchard penalties either side of a George Smith try for Australia.

Winger Drew Mitchell helped himself to two tries before Chris Latham cruised over for Australia’s final score.

Australia – the only nation to win the Web Ellis Trophy twice – had already sewn up the pool and took the chance to rest a host of big name players ahead of next Saturday’s quarter-final against defending champions England.

The Wallabies took the lead through an early Julian Huxley penalty but struggled to put their usual free-flowing, multi-phase style of play into practice in the wet conditions.

Canada, who failed to win a match at the World Cup for the first time, were typically gutsy in defence and they lasted 23 minutes before Baxter powered over out wide.

Hooker Frier then profited as the Australian pack took charge but with Huxley missing both conversions they only led 13-0 at the break.

Pritchard’s penalties gave Canada, ranked just 14th in the world, something to smile about but, despite being some way short of their best, Australia were always comfortably in control.

Smith profited from a poor Canadian line-out throw to score their third try before Mitchell went over for his quickfire brace to become the leading scorer in France with seven.

The Wallabies’ final try came when Latham finished off a crisp move from first phase to claim his 11th World Cup try, joining former England winger Rory Underwood in third on the all-time list.

Cameron Shepherd managed two conversions while the Wallabies suffered a blow when number eight David Lyons was taken away in a wheelchair with what was later revealed to be a broken leg.

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Australia: Latham; Shepherd, Tuqiri, Ashley-Cooper, Mitchell; Huxley, Cordingley; Holmes, Freier, Baxter, Sharpe, Chisholm, McMeniman, Smith, Lyons.
Replacements: Hardman, Shepherdson, Elsom, Waugh, Hoiles, Gregan, Giteau.

Canada: Van der Merwe; Mensah-Coker, Pyke, Daypuck; Pritchard, Monro; Williams, Snow, Riordan, Thiel, Tait, James, Yukes, Biddle, Stephen.
Replacements: Carpenter, D Pletch, M Pletch, Burak, Webb, Fairhurst, Trenkel.

Japan scored a last-gasp try to draw a dramatic match with Canada in Bordeaux.

The Brave Blossoms took the lead through Kosuke Endo’s superb early try to lead 5-0 at the break before Canada hit back through hooker Pat Riordan.

It looked like the Canucks had wrapped up victory when DTH van der Merwe collected a cross-kick for their second score, with James Pritchard converting.

But Koji Taira scored an injury-time try for Japan and Shotaro Onishi’s conversion levelled the scores.

Japan produced a typically committed performance, flying into tackles and refusing to give an inch as they edged the first half.

They took the lead after 12 minutes with a brilliant individual effort from winger Endo, whose sparkling length of the field score against Wales was already a try of the tournament contender.

Japan won quick ball off the top of a line-out and fed Endo, who burst through Canadian number 10 Ryan Smith and then stood up Van der Merwe before rounding the winger to score.

Onishi missed the conversion but Canada had been slow out of the blocks and Japan kept them at arm’s length until the final stages of the half.

With five minutes to go to the break the Canucks launched a sustained assault on the Japan line but the attack petered out when they could not get quick ball from a ruck.

And their irritation increased when hooker Riordan’s frustration got the better of him and he was sin-binned for careless use of the boot.

Canada seemed spurred by a sense of injustice and they enjoyed their best spell of the game so far, but still could not cross the line.

After Pyke had just been denied in the corner from a grubber kick the Japanese won their line-out, but the clearance kick was charged down.
 
Canada launched a series of attacks before Pyke burst onto the ball wide on the left, but it was knocked from his grasp as he tried to power over the line.

Canada opted to keep the ball closer to their pack in the second half and it paid off almost immediately as Riordan, back after his spell in the sin bin, ploughed over to finish off a powerful drive by the forwards.

Pritchard missed the conversion but just when it looked as though Canada were going to stretch clear, Japan produced a series of forward drives of their own.

They eventually kicked a penalty into the corner and tried to batter their way over once again from the resulting line-out, but Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei was driven back by ferocious Canadian defence and the Canucks escaped.

The North Americans finally took the lead when livewire scrum-half Morgan Williams took a quick penalty and his cross-kick enabled Van der Merwe to slither over.

Pritchard converted but Japan refused to accept defeat and launched a series of late attacks.

Canada conceded penalty after penalty, including a debatable decision in the 82nd minute after they had batted the ball dead, and Japan finally scored through Taira down the left to send the Bordeaux crowd into raptures.

That left Onishi with a hugely pressurised kick from near the touchline to level the match and he drilled the ball nervelessly between the posts to record only the second draw in World Cup history.

Canada have made three changes from the team that lost 29-16 to Fiji for the Pool B match in Bordeaux against Japan.Coach Ric Suggitt has drafted in a new-look back row with flankers Colin Yukes and Adam Kleeberger coming in alongside number eight Aaron Carpenter.

Like Canada, Japan are looking for a first win but go into the game without injured flanker Yasunori Watanbe.

The Asian champions are boosted by the return of full-back Go Agura and centre Shotaro Onisho has been passed fit.

“We need to find the guy with the voodoo doll who keeps putting pins into our players,” said Japan coach John Kirwan.

“Injuries are part of the game but we’ve had eight or nine injuries to key players this year.

“I expect them to try and out muscle us but it is very important we play to our game plan and play to our strengths.”

Suggitt hopes fear of failure drives his team on.

“They have a lot of pride and know that in the record books Canada has come away with at least one win from every World Cup,” he said.

“So they’re well aware of that but we don’t want to put any external pressure on them and say you have to win because we don’t want to be the only team that goes away 0-4.”

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Canada: Mike Pyke; DTH Van der Merwe, Craig Culpan, David Spicer, James Pritchard; Ryan Smith, Morgan Williams (capt); Rod Snow, Pat Riordan, Jon Thiel; Mike Burak, Mike James; Colin Yukes, Adam Kleeberger, Aaron Carpenter.
Replacements: Mike Pletch, Dan Pletch, Scott Franklin, Josh Jackson, Mike Webb, Ed Fairhurst, Justin Mensah-Coker.

Japan: Go Aruga, Kosuke Endo, Yuta Imamura, Shotaro Onishi, Christian Loamanu, Bryce Robins, Tomoki Yoshida; Tatsukichi Nishiura, Yuji Matsubara, Tomokazu Soma; Hitoshi Ono, Luke Thompson; Hare Makiri, Philip O’Reilly, Takuro Miuchi (capt).
Replacements: Taku Inokuchi, Ryo Yamamura, Luatangi Samurai Vatuvei, Hajime Kiso, Chulwon Kim, Koji Taira, Hirotoki Onozawa.

Fiji kept in the hunt for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals with a bonus-point win over Canada in Pool B.Tries from Kele Leawere, Kameli Ratuvou and Vilimoni Delasau helped them into a 22-6 lead.

Canada hit back, with Ryan Smith’s try and James Pritchard’s third penalty trimming the gap to six points.

But Ratuvou’s late try ended Canada’s hopes as Fiji stay on course for what is likely to be a winner takes all contest against Wales on 29 September.

The game was always going to be a clash of styles, with Canada relying on their forward strength and a more structured approach to combat Fiji’s greater pace, power and skill out wide.

However, Fiji tried to take Canada on with a deliberate game initially, kicking several penalties for touch, and a penalty apiece from James Pritchard and Nicky Little saw the sides level at 3-3 after the early exchanges.

Fiji were making little headway until Saracens winger Ratuvou, playing at full-back for Fiji, injected some pace into the game.

First he sliced through to within a couple of yards of the line before losing the ball in a tackle.

A couple of minutes later he smashed his way through the first line of defence and when Fiji switched play to the right, second row Leawere was on hand to blast over by the posts.

Little converted to make it 10-3 and although Pritchard narrowed the gap with his second penalty after 26 minutes, within two minutes Fiji had stretched their lead as Ratuvou once again stamped his mark on the game.

Number eight Sisa Koymaibole’s charge took Fiji within sight of the line and Ratuvou burst over from close range to make it 15-6 at half-time.

The Fijians might be just one place higher than Canada in the world rankings at 12th, but whenever they secured decent possession they looked much more threatening.

When winger Delasau got his hands on the ball veteran Canadian prop Rod Snow was all that barred his way to the line and he stepped him with ease.

Little converted and when Pritchard missed a kickable penalty soon after the writing was on the ball for Canada.

However, they hit back just before the hour mark when Smith slipped Little’s tackle to score from close range after a sustained attack, with Pritchard’s conversion making it 22-13.

A sweeping Canada attack then ripped the Fijians apart but Mike Pyke’s effort was controversially ruled out for a double movement after Canada worked a huge overlap.

But Pritchard trimmed the gap to six points with a penalty and the Canadians came desperately close to completing an unlikely fight back when they mounted a sustained assault on the Fiji line in the closing moments.

However, they turned the ball over after a series of drives by the forwards and Ratuvou showed the despairing Canadian chasers a clean pair of heels to score Fiji’s fourth try and wrap up a bonus-point victory.

Wales survived a huge scare in their opening World Cup match before overcoming a determined Canada side.

Canada led 17-9 after 45 minutes in Nantes after tries from Jamie Cudmore, Craig Culpan and Morgan Williams.

But the introduction of Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas sparked Wales to life as they dominated the last half hour.

Sonny Parker, Alun Wyn Jones, Colin Charvis and Shane Williams (2) crossed to ensure the victory which had looked a distant dream for the Welsh side.

Wales, wearing black armbands in honour of former Welsh Rugby Union president Sir Tasker Watkins who died on Sunday, lined up in unfamiliar grey jerseys.

And the dullness of their shirts was matched by their play in the opening exchanges as they struggled to find any cohesion.

They at least managed to force Canada to concede penalties in their own half, and James Hook kicked three of his four attempts to put Wales 9-0 up after 15 minutes.

Canada’s intentions were clear after picking a strong and experienced pack, and their opening try on 25 minutes all down to forward power.

A scrum deep in Wales 22 provided the perfect attacking platform, and Cudmore eventually barged his way over from a few yards out as Wales buckled under heavy pressure.

Wales were left stunned 10 minutes later as Culpan ran almost the length of the field to score Canada’s second try.

Wales had looked destined to score as a break by centre Tom Shanklin put Canada on the back foot, but Hook’s attempted long pass was intercepted by Culpan and the centre had enough pace to race home.

Pritchard converted and the half-time whistle came as a blessing for the shell-shocked Wales players.

The break had little effect, though, as Canada scored their third try after just five minutes of the second-half.

Scrum-half Williams made the initial break before the Canada forwards again inched their way towards the Wales line with powerful drives.

The score looked inevitable, and it was Williams who finally borrowed his way through.

Wales needed a quick response, and coach Gareth Jenkins immediately turned to the experience of Thomas and Stephen Jones

The change had the desired effect as Wales finally came alive.

Jones almost scored with his first touch, a desperate Canadian covering tackle preventing the fly-half from grounding the ball as he dived over the tryline.

But the crucial score arrived moments later from the resulting scrum as Jones’ reverse pass sent Parker over. Jones converted to bring Wales back to within a point.

Wales finally had the initiative, and they regained the lead five minutes later.

A Canada clearance from behind their own tryline was charged down and lock Alun Wyn Jones pounced on the loose ball to score.

With the Canadians tiring, the outstanding Shanklin then had a hand in the next two Wales tries as Williams crossed twice in as many minutes.

A Stephen Jones break then laid a try on a plate for flanker Charvis, another replacement who played a huge part in Wales’ revival.

Jenkins had stressed the importance of starting their campaign with a win, but Wales will need to raise their game a few notches if they hope to challenge Australia in next Saturday’s crucial group match in Cardiff