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The veteran flyhalf, who has specialized in sevens for the past three years and hasn’t been called in for the current Rugby World Cup build-up campaign, knows all about RWC prep from four years ago.

He was a key figure in the Kieran Crowley-coached squad, one that showed great promise but ultimately came away winless from the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

In the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup, the Canadians went 0-4, but could easily have finished 2-2. Two games, in pool play against Samoa in Toronto and in a fifth-place game against the U.S. in Burnaby, were settled in the game’s waning moments.

“The Samoa game, we were heartbroken,” Hirayama admitted. The Samoans won the game on a last-play try after the Canadians fumbled a lineout near their goal-line.

And the loss to the Americans stung as well, he said. The visitors won on a final-minute drop goal.

But there was also some perspective required, he said.

“At the end of the day, I don’t think anyone is really looking at these games,” he said. “It’s about seeing what combinations work. Everyone’s on display, everyone’s trying out.”

The Canadians also lost in pool play to Tonga and Japan.

“The feel going into that Samoa game was this is our tryout, this is our shot,” he said.

And while one reporter put forth the notion that maybe a win or two in that PNC might have set up the team better for RWC wins over Italy and Romania, they weren’t a factor, Hirayama said.

His coach agreed, too.

“No I don’t think losing to Samoa and USA had a bearing on the World Cup games. After those games we beat both Glasgow and Georgia,” Crowley wrote in an email.