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.

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.”

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.

Gareth Jenkins’ men scored 11 tries in an entertaining affair to bounce back from Saturday’s defeat to Australia.

Japan did make a game of it, though, and scored a try in each half including a spectacular length-of-the-field effort finished off by Kosuke Endo.

But Wales were too strong and face Fiji next in Nantes on 29 September.

That game could prove to be a Pool B decider, and if Wales repeat their second-half performance from Thursday’s game then they should progress through to the quarter-finals stage of the World Cup.

It was Japan who opened the scoring with Shotaro Onishi sending over a penalty.

And despite early pressure it took Wales 10 minutes to break down the Japanese resistance with the opening try, scored by Alun Wyn Jones in the corner, to settle any nerves in the home crowd.

But any thoughts of a Welsh avalanche were soon put to rest with a superb try from Japan.

Camped on their own line in the left corner, it looked as if the Japanese would be conceding their second score of the evening.

But Wales lost a five-metre scrum and the Japanese backs set off from their own try-line to run the length of the field, eventually scoring in the right corner through wing Endo.

It was one of the great World Cup tries, but no more than Japan deserved for their sheer endeavour in an entertaining opening 20 minutes.

The try was the wake-up call Wales needed and Stephen Jones soon sent over a close-range penalty to give his side the lead.

A couple of minutes later they were further ahead with James Hook evading several tackles on the wing to race home and go over in the corner for 15-8.

Jones converted, as he did several minutes later on the half-hour after hooker Rhys Thomas had bundled over from close range to score his first international try for Wales.

Japan kept plugging away, as you would expect from a team coached by All Black legend John Kirwan, and Onishi narrowed the deficit to 13 points with his side’s first penalty.

But on the stroke of half-time Wales secured a valuable bonus point after Kevin Morgan finished off a flowing three-quarter move to dive over for 29-11 at the break.

Wales’ second-half display was notable for a number of reasons.

Firstly for the performance of Mike Phillips, who has now given coach Jenkins a real selection dilemma ahead of next week’s clash with Fiji.

Phillips was at the centre of everything good that Wales did in the second-half before he was replaced by Gareth Cooper after 53 minutes.

The Ospreys scrum-half scored their first try of the period after only a minute, powering through several tackles to dive over under the posts.

A few minutes later Phillips pulled off a delightful chip and catch to feed Shane Williams who dived over for 41-11.

The try was Williams’ 33rd for Wales, equalling former skipper Ieuan Evans’ mark. And it was all the more sweet for the Ospreys wing as he was winning his 50th cap.

Also of note was lock Ian Evans entering proceedings for his first rugby since 23 December, and showing that he could still have a big part to play in the rest of Wales’ World Cup campaign.

Dafydd James continued Wales try-fest mid-way through the second half to increase their lead 48-11 thanks to Jones’ conversion.

Japan, to their credit, kept plugging away and on 56 minutes they got their second try of the night. It was just as good as the first.

Wing Hirotoki Onozawa outpaced the Welsh backs to score from inside his own half for 48-18, with Onishi adding the extras.

The try avalanche continued with Cooper, Martyn Williams and Shane Williams, who scored a second in the dying minutes of the game to pass Evans and pull within five tries of Gareth Thomas’ all-time Welsh record.

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Wales: Morgan, D. James, Robinson, Hook, S. Williams, S. Jones, Phillips, D. Jones, R. Thomas, Horsman, W. James, A. Jones, Charvis, M. Williams, Popham.
Replacements: Shanklin for Robinson (73), Sweeney for S. Jones (54), Cooper for Phillips (57), Jenkins for Horsman (65), Evans for A. Jones (52), Owen for Popham (58). Not Used: Bennett.

Japan: Loamanu, Endo, Imamura, Onishi, Onozawa, Robins, Yoshida, Nishiura, Matsubara, Soma, H. Ono, Thompson, Watanabe, Makiri, Miuchi.
Replacements: Taira for Imamura (51), Kusumi for Onishi (52), Kim for Yoshida (66), Yamamura for Nishiura (54), Inokuchi for Matsubara (75), Kiso for Thompson (66), Asano for Makiri (52).

Scrum-half Mike Phillips gets his first start, with Jenkins also naming an entirely new front row from the team which faced Australia.

Kevin Morgan replaces the injured Gareth Thomas at full-back, while James Hook and Jamie Robinson are the centre duo with Dafydd James on the wing.

Alix Popham returns at number 8 while Will James replaces Ian Gough.

 Wales will have had only five days to get over their bruising 20-32 defeat to Australia and with that in mind Jenkins has used the opportunity to give fresh legs a run against Japan.

The partnership of Phillips, Stephen Jones and James Hook will be of particular interest to Jenkins who has been dealt a blow with injuries to Gareth Thomas and Sonny Parker.

Rhys Thomas gets a chance to impress at hooker with Duncan Jones and Chris Horsman either side of him.

Kevin Morgan will be looking to secure the full-back berth on a full-time basis after Thomas’ injury and gets his opportunity against the Japanese.

Only Shane Williams, Stephen Jones, Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas and Colin Charvis keep their places in the side.

Williams wins his 50th cap for his country and is expected to lead the side out on Thursday night.

Parker (groin) and Thomas (ribs) are both likely to be out of action for two weeks, and could return for the knock-out stages of the competition.

Wales need to win all their remaining pool B games to progress through to the quarter-final stages of the 2007 World Cup.

Ian Evans completes his return from injury taking his place on the bench.

Highly rated Ospreys lock Evans has not played since dislocating a shoulder in scoring a try against Cardiff Blues on 23 December, and had his planned summer return disrupted by a collarbone injury.

Stephen Jones takes over the captaincy duties from Gareth Thomas.

“A number of players will be itching to get out there and make their mark on this World Cup, said Jenkins.

“We have the strength in a number of positions to allow us to re-assess form and grow the experience in our squad.

“The front row is a strong area for us and Duncan Jones, Chris Horsman and Rhys Thomas will be invaluable to us if we are to progress as we feel we should.

“In the second row Will James has an opportunity to show his worth and it is also a boost to be able to feature a fully fit Ian Evans on the bench.

“He will come into the fray if the opportunity arises and he is another player who could be important to us in future matches.”

Meanwhile, Japan coach John Kirwan has named his team to face Wales.

Kirwan has made two changes from the defeat against Fiji with Tongan-born Christian Loamanu switching from wing to full-back instead of the injured Go Aruga. Hirotoki Onozawa comes in on the wing.

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Wales: Kevin Morgan; Dafydd James, Jamie Robinson, James Hook, Shane Williams; Stephen Jones, Mike Phillips; Duncan Jones, Rhys Thomas, Chris Horsman, Will James, Alun Wyn Jones, Jonathan Thomas, Colin Charvis, Alix Popham.
Replacements: Huw Bennett, Gethin Jenkins, Ian Evans, Martyn Williams, Gareth Cooper, Ceri Sweeney, Tom Shanklin.

Japan: Christian Loamanu; Kosuke Endo, Yuta Imamura, Shotaro Onishi, Hirotoki Onozawa; Bryce Robins, Tomoki Yoshida; Takuro Miuchi (capt), Philip O’Reilly, Hare Makiri; Luke Thompson, Hitoshi Ono; Soma Tomokazu, Yuji Matsubara, Tatsukishi Nishiura.
Replacements: Taku Inokuchi, Ryo Yamamura, Takanori Kumagae, Yasunori Watanabe, Kim Chul-won, Koji Taira, Tatsuya Kusumi.

Qera’s long-range try lit up an error-strewn first half and his second score on 49 minutes put Fiji 17-12 up.

Luke Thompson responded for Japan but a try from Leicester’s Seru Rabeni seemed to end the Japanese challenge.

But Tomokazu Soma was bundled over on 62 minutes and although Kele Leawere crossed for Fiji, Thompson’s second try set up a grandstand finale.

“We were disappointed but we got the win,” said Saracens’ Fijian scrum-half Mosese Rauluni.

“We were our own worst enemies. We knew they would play 100 miles an hour. In the first half we were very rusty. We were throwing balls and they didn’t stick.”

Japan coach John Kirwan said: “Obviously we are disappointed with the result. We’ve had our chances to win the game.

“I think on the positive note the players played their hearts out and did take one point out of the game.”

A weakened Japan had lost 91-3 to Australia at the weekend but former Italy coach Kirwan changed his entire starting line-up for the match in Toulouse.

Fiji, though, had not played in the opening round of games and they started the match brightly, Nicky Little becoming the 12th man to pass 600 points in international rugby union with a fourth-minute penalty.

But as the half continued, Japan started to grow in confidence and they harried the Fijians into a series of handling errors and turnovers.

Inside centre Shotaro Onishi kicked two penalties to give the Japanese a 6-3 advantage but Qera showed great pace to cross from 75 metres out after picking up a loose ball.

Onishi added two penalties either side of the break to make the score 12-10 but Qera claimed his second after supporting a Mosese Rauluni break.

The Stade Municipal crowd were loving the end-to-end rugby, and Thompson continued the scoring after finding a massive gap in the Fijian defence.

Nicky Little’s penalty edged Fiji in front and Rabeni’s score, after some good work from full-back Kameli Ratuvou and wing Vilimoni Delasau, gave the men in white a six-point cushion.
Japan showed some real grit though and Soma came up with the ball after a rolling maul crashed over the line.

Leawere’s pick and drive put Fiji ahead once again but the tenacious Japanese refused to give up and flanker Hare Makiri’s fine offload set up Thompson for his second try with just two minutes left.

Japan desperately tried to claim a dramatic match-winning score as the clock ticked down but despite keeping the ball alive well into injury time, Fiji did just enough for the win.
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Japan: Aruga; Loamanu, Imamura, Onishi, Endo; Robins, Yoshida; Nishiura, Matsubara, Soma, Ono, Thompson, Makiri, O’Reilly, Miuchi (capt).
Replacements: Inokuchi, Yamamura, Kumagae, Asano, Yatomi, Taira, Onozawa.

Fiji: Ratuvou; Delasau, Rabeni, Bai, Naivua; Little, Rauluni (capt); Dewes, Koto, Qiodravu, Lewere, Lewaravu, Naevo, Qera, Koymaibole.
Replacements: Sauturaga, Railomo, Talei, Ratuva, Dunivucu, Lovobalavu, Ligairi.

Kosei Ono’s penalty was the least that Japan’s valiant effort deserved, but they were over-run in the second half.

Debutant Berrick Barnes was among the scorers as an exhausted Japan conceded 10 second-half tries.

It was no surprise that Australia were happy to go for the direct route early on, with the Wallaby pack enjoying a significant physical advantage over their counterparts.

Australia tried to assert their authority – they are some 16 places above Japan in the world rankings – from the off but some stout and committed defence kept them at bay.

Japan had clearly earned the respect of their opponents and Mortlock took no liberties when two kickable penalties came his side’s way, slotting both for a 6-0 lead after 16 minutes.
 
The two-time World Cup winners finally got over the line two minutes later when Sharpe emerged with the ball after a draining rolling maul.

Elsom benefited from a clever pass from Stephen Larkham to cross for his first try on 24 minutes, and soon after he claimed a second down the left touchline following Chris Latham’s scoring pass.

Japan were still competing gamely though and when Mortlock tugged Hirotoki Onozawa’s jersey to concede the penalty, Ono stroked the ball through the posts to get his side on the scoreboard to the delight of the crowd.

Australia made the perfect start to the second half, scoring within a minute of kick-off as Elsom cut a lovely line off of Larkham.

It was one-way traffic for most of the half as Japan’s physical exertions of the first half saw them begin to fall off tackles.
 
Adam Ashley-Cooper finished off a flowing backs move, Latham burrowed over from close range and Barnes scored seconds after making his Test debut off the bench.

Replacement Drew Mitchell scored with his first touch, before George Smith created a try for himself out of nothing.

Mitchell, Latham and Barnes all added their second tries of the afternoon, while Adam Frier scored with the last move of the game.

The 16 forwards include captain Takuro Miuchi, with Kobe Steel wing Daisuke Ohata – the world’s leading try scorer – amongst the 14 backs.

The squad includes includes four New Zealanders and three Tongans, with another Kiwi and a South Korean amongst the six emergency travelling reserves.

Japan are drawn in Pool B with Wales, Fiji, Canada and Australia.
Following Friday’s 69-10 win over Asia Barbarians, they travel to Italy on Sunday and meet the Azzurri in a warm-up game on 18 August, before facing Portugal a week later.

Their opening World Cup tie is against Australia in Lyon on 8 September, before they move to Toulouse to play Fiji (12 September).

The Millennium Stadium showdown with Wales is next up on 20 September, with Japan’s final pool game against Canada in Bordeaux on 25 September.

“We have a big responsibility at the moment, not only for Asian rugby, but especially for Japanese rugby,” said All Blacks legend Kirwan.

“This team carries the dreams and hopes of a nation that is about to explode as far as rugby is concerned.

“We need a great World Cup, we need players to be great, and then we can all rejoice the success.

“Italy is a very important game, we need to play a game plan we are going to use later in the tournament.

“To win, you must completely understand your opposition. We need to out-think and out-play our opposition. To do that, you must use your brains more than your bodies.”

The overseas players in the squad are locks Luke Thompson and Luatangi Vatuvei, flankers Hare Makiri and Philip O’Reily, centres Bryce Robins and Nataliela Oto, and wing Christian Loamanu.

Kiwi outside-half James Arlidge – who made a successful debut for Japan in April against South Korea with two tries and a perfect 10 conversions – and Korean scrum-half Kim Chul-Won are amongst the six back-ups.

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Japan’s World Cup squad:

Forwards: Ryo Yamamura (Yamaha Motor), Masahito Yamamoto (Toyota Motor), Tomokazu Soma (Sanyo), Tatsukichi Nishiura (Coca Cola), Yuji Matsubara (Kobe Steel), Mitsugu Yamamoto (Sanyo), Hitoshi Ono (Toshiba), Takanori Kumagae (NEC), Luatangi Vatuvei (Kintetsu/TGA), Luke Thompson (Kintetsu/NZL), Takuro Miuchi (NEC, capt), Yasunori Watanabe (Toshiba), Hajime Kiso (Yamaha Motor), Hare Makiri (Fukuoka/NZL), Philip O’Reilly (Sanyo/NZL), Takamichi Sasaki (Suntory).

Backs: Yuki Yatomi (Yamaha Motor), Tomoki Yoshida (Toshiba), Eiji Ando (NEC), Kousei Ono (Fukuoka), Shotaro Onishi (Yamaha Motor), Nataniela Oto (Toshiba/TGA), Yuta Imamura (Kobe Steel), Koji Taira (Suntory), Bryce Robins (Ricoh/NZL), Daisuke Ohata (Kobe Steel), Hirotoki Onozawa (Suntory), Kosuke Endo (Toyota Motor), Christian Loamanu (Saitama Institute of Technology/TGA), Go Aruga (Suntory).