Canada 12 Japan 12:Japan centre Shotaro Onishi landed a conversion from the sideline three minutes into stoppage time to earn a 12-12 draw with Canada in their World Cup Pool B match.
Onishi calmly slotted the ball between the posts after replacement Koji Taira scored out wide at the death to produce only the second draw at a World Cup and the first since 1987.
The result also ended The Cherry Blossom's 16-year losing streak at the World Cup, dating back to their lone win against Zimbabwe in 1991.
Canada, whose proud record of winning at least one match at every World Cup is in serious danger with only one game to go against Australia, looked to have the game wrapped up when they scored 12 unanswered points in the second half.
Hooker Pat Riordan and left wing Dth van der Merwe scored tries while outhalf James Pritchard added a conversion to put the North Americans in control of the match before Japan's last-gasp reply.
Japan had made a great start when wing Kosuke Endo burst through three defenders to score in the 12th minute but they spent the rest of the first half defending.
Canada were reduced to 14 men when Riordan was sin-binned for dangerous rucking and failed to capitalise on their territorial advantage as they squandered a series of scoring opportunities to go to the break trailing 5-0.
Canada drew level early in the second half when Riordan scored out wide off a lineout drive then snatched the lead 15 minutes from the end when scrumhalf Morgan Williams caught the Japanese defence napping and lobbed a quickly-taken free kick to van der Merwe who dived over in the left corner.
Pritchard nailed the conversion to give his team a seven-point buffer before the Asian champions launched a series of attacks in the hope of snatching a draw.
Canada's defence held firm but a late penalty gave Japan one last shot at redemption and they responded by flinging the ball wide to Taira to dive over.
Although the 1995 and 2003 finals both finished level and went to extra time the only previous draw at the World Cup was at Christchurch in 1987 when Scotland and France finished locked at 20-20.
Japan's match was their last at this tournament after their losses to Australia, Fiji and Wales. Canada play the Wallabies on Saturday but cannot advance to the quarter-finals after losing to Wales and Fiji.
