• Replacement scores two tries as Ireland fight back from 14-0 down • Wales beaten 15-0 by Canada despite improved display

Two tries from the replacement Paula Fitzpatrick spared Ireland’s blushes against Japan as the Women’s World Cup hosts came from 14-0 down to clinch victory and keep their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive.

Japan, having conceded 72 points to France in their opening match, moved into a commanding lead at half-time with a penalty try and a score from the full-back Mayu Shimizu to leave Ireland shell-shocked.

England put 10 tries past Italy and steamroll towards World Cup semis Read more

The left-wing, Alison Miller, pulled Ireland back into the match on 46 minutes, soon after her team-mate and outside-centre Katie Fitzhenry had been shown a yellow card, with Nora Stapleton converting to reduce the deficit to seven. The scores were level at 14-14 with 15 minutes to go – Stapleton converting Fitzpatrick’s first try – and Ireland were ahead when the fly-half kicked a 73rd-minute penalty.

Fitzpatrick’s second try in the final minute made sure of the win but after squeezing past Australia, who have been focusing almost exclusively on sevens since the last World Cup, in their first match Tom Tierney’s side were again laborious in victory.

“Full credit to the Japanese, they threw everything at us in the first half,” said the Ireland captain, Claire Molloy, whose side face France on Thursday. “It was a new game in the second half. We were resilient yet again and we got the result. Unfortunately it was a backs-to-the-wall situation again but we got the result and that’s what counts.

“There’s a lot to work on, we’ll be unhappy with our handling errors and our breakdown again so we’ll need to fix that because we need some momentum going into the French game.”

Wales produced an improved display against Canada but again slipped to defeat, going down 15-0 to the 2014 finalists who are yet to concede a point in the competition.

Lori Josephson scored the first of Canada’s tries before a Magali Harvey penalty extended their lead to 10-0 with 10 minutes remaining. At that stage both sides had players in the sin-bin – Canada’s Julianne Zussman and Wales’s Carys Phillips both shown yellow cards – but Harvey, who scored five tries against Hong Kong on Wednesday, added another at the end.

New Zealand thrashed Hong Kong 121-0, running in 19 tries in total with Portia Woodman helping herself to eight of them. The Black Ferns, who beat Wales in their opening fixture 44-12, also scored through the centre Theresa Fitzpatrick (2), Carla Hohepa, Charmaine McMenamin, Chelsea Alley, Hazel Tubic, Sosoli Talawadua, Lesley Ketu, Kelly Brazier and Stacey Waaka. The scrum-half Kendra Cocksedge scored a try and converted 13 of the tries. It was not a Women’s World Cup record however – New Zealand beat Germany 134-6 in 1998.

Elsewhere the USA – England’s opponents on Thursday – cruised to a 43-0 victory over Spain with Naya Tapper scoring two of their tries. JJ Javelet, Cheta Emba, Hope Rogers and Jordan Gray also got in on the act for the USA.

Their captain, Tiffanny Faaee, said: “With England we know that they are very strong in the pack so our defence will have to be physical. We just need to be physical with them.”-