The Canada women’s Rugby team recorded an easy 41-5 win over Japan in their opening game of the Rugby World Cup.
The team scored 36 straight points to snap an early 5-5 tie at Northland Events Centre in Whangarei, New Zealand.
The bigger Canadian forwards had the advantage in the scrum and lineout, used the driving maul to gain metres at will and pressured the Japanese at the breakdown.
The team however committed 16 handling errors and 17 turnovers, compared to nine and eight, respectively, for Japan.
Canada, who are third in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings, got things off to a positive start after just two minutes.
Winger Paige Farries was the scorer of the unconverted try after a clearance kick from Japan was charged down.
After the game, Canada skipper Sophie De Goede said: “It was a good game for us, we started strongly and we know that we can build from here.
“We have worked a lot on our rolling maul and we hope it will be a weapon for us during the rest of the competition.
“Credit to Japan, they made it difficult for us and they are an improving side for sure.”
“It was not a pretty game,” Canada coach Kevin Routlet said. “We did the game plan at the beginning. After that I think we could have done a better job. But it’s a win.”
