Japan vs Canada Preview & Prediction | 2026 International
by Trystan Pugh ·
Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
Japan and Canada face off in Niigata with both sides having one eye on the imminent Pacific Nations Cup.
Start date/time:
How to watch on TV: UK – Not televised / USA – Not televised
How to watch online: UK – RugbyPass TV / USA – RugbyPass TV
Japan team news
Squad: 1 Takato Okabe, 2 Mamoru Harada, 3 Shuhei Takeuchi, 4 Jack Cornelsen, 5 Harry Hockings, 6 Ben Gunter, 7 Kanji Shimokawa, 8 Faulua Makisi, 9 Naoto Saito (capt.), 10 Ryunosuke Ito, 11 Haruto Kida, 12 Yuya Hirose, 13 Dylan Riley, 14 Inoke Burua, 15 Takuro Matsunaga
Replacements: 16 Kenji Sato, 17 Sojiro Otsuka, 18 Takumi Inaba, 19 Michael Stolberg, 20 Esei Ha’angana, 21 Tiennan Costley, 22 Kenta Fukuda, 23 Sam Greene
Canada team news
Squad: 1 Sam Miller, 2 Foster DeWitt, 3 Kyle Steeves, 4 Daragh Doyle, 5 Isaac Kelly, 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Sion Perry, 8 Lucas Rumball (capt.), 9 Jesse Kilgour, 10 Spencer Jones, 11 Liam James, 12 Ben LeSage, 13 Isaac Olson, 14 Kyle Tremblay, 15 Takoda McMullin
Replacements: 16 Dewald Kotze, 17 Emerson Prior, 18 Bryce Worden, 19 Barnaby Waddell, 20 Cody Nhanala, 21 Jason Higgins, 22 Jacob Ince, 23 Jamie Armstrong
Japan vs Canada prediction
Japan warm up for the beginning of the 2026 Pacific Nations Cup next week by facing off against Canada - who are also in that competition - in Niigata. The Brave Blossoms should be fairly sharp having faced tier one nation Australia twice last month, coming within three points of the Wallabies in the first of those contests.
Eddie Jones has named a strong Japan side for this one and they are undoubtedly heavy favourites against a Canada outfit ranked 12 places below them.
The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, haven't beaten Japan since 2005 and are missing several of their key players for this encounter. They were last in action during the Nations Cup last month where they drew with Spain, lost to Portugal and beat Zimbabwe.
Japan are a significant step-up in quality, and should be comfortable winners on home turf.
Japan vs Canada tip: Japan -38.5
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