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More pace and power was in evidence for the Canadians to open the half, win a try coming within minutes. Harry Jones sprinted clear, after some fine tight passing by Pat Kay and Hirayama, who also nailed the extras again, putting the Canadians into a secure 21-0 lead.

With minutes to play, a botched scrum on their own line lead to a Welsh score. The Canadians shouted frustration at the end goal judge, feeling upset about how the Welsh had pressured the ball on the scrum but it was to no avail.

But it didn’t really matter. The Canadians secured the re-start and now it was the turn of the depth players to make their impact. There was a great step and pace from Matt Mullins to take the ball to within metres of the Welsh line, then a fine offload to the supporting Luke McCloskey. McCloskey made a nice offload of his own to Hirayama. It was an easy finish for the playmaker from there.

The 28-5 win made it two wins from two and a likely spot in the cup quarterfinals, their first since early in the 2014-15 season.

When Scotland finally put Russia away 12-5, the Canadians were in.

The final match versus Russia was never really in doubt. First half tries from Jones and Douglas set the stage. Douglas scored another in the second half, and Mike Fualiefau and McCloskey added scores to close out the game.

It put them into the cup quarterfinals for the first time since the end of the 2014-15 season.

Day one’s success was all about “simple things, like securing our own breakdown and good support lines,” Jones added. “Kickoffs gave us a great platform to work off of, we weren’t winning any in the past two tourneys.”

Canada will face Argentina at 4:22 p.m. PT Saturday (that’s Sunday in New Zealand). The Argentines finished second in pool A to England. Watch it live at worldrugby.org.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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