Japan comeback stuns Canada

Japan scored 25 unanswered points in the second half to claim a 34-25 win over Canada in the Pacific Nations Cup.

Hosts Canada enjoyed a comfortable 25-9 lead at half time thanks to tries from John Moonlight, Ciaran Hearn and Taylor Paris.

The Japanese turned things around after the break, running in three tries of their own to record their eighth successive victory.

Canada – Tries: John Moonlight, Ciaran Hearn, Taylor Paris. Coversions: James Pritchard (2). Penalties: Pritchard (2).
Japan – Tries: Yoshikazu Fujita, Yu Tamura, Hendrik Tui. Conversions: Ayumu Goromaru (2), Penalties: Goromaru (5)

Canada – 15 James Pritchard, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Taylor Paris, 10 Harry Jones, 9 Gordon McRorie, 8 Tyler Ardron (c), 7 John Moonlight, 6 Jebb Sinclair, 5 Jamie Cudmore, 4 Tyler Hotson, 3 Jason Marshall, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Hubert Buydens.
Subs: 16 Andrew Tiedemann, 17 Aaron Carpenter, 18 Jake Ilnicki, 19 Jon Phelan, 20 Adam Kleeberger, 21 Phil Mack, 22 Connor Braid, 23 DTH van der Merwe.

Japan – 15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Yoshikazu Fujita, 13 Male Sa'u, 12 Yu Tamura, 11 Akihito Yamada, 10 Harumichi Tatekawa, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Leitch (capt), 6 Justin Ives, 5 Luke Thompson, 4 Hitoshi Ono, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami.
Subs: 16. Hisateru Hirashima, 17 Takeshi Kizu, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Shoji Ito, 20 Shinya Makabe, 21 Hendrik Tui, 22 Atsushi Hiwasa, 23 Toshiaki Hirose.

Photo: Rich Lam/Getty Images