Japan battle past debutants Chile in World Cup opener

Japan have opened their Rugby World Cup campaign with a 42-12 victory over debutants Chile in Toulouse.

The Brave Blossoms successfully saw off a spirited showing from Chile on the South American nation's first-ever appearance on the biggest stage, picking up an expected but valuable win in Pool D.

With six tries to their name, Japan also claim a bonus point which takes them to the top of the group above England, who relied on the boot of George Ford to kick them to a 27-10 win over Argentina on Saturday night.

Jamie Joseph's side had made the headlines as underdogs at the previous two tournaments, but they were firm favourites heading into this opener against a team that had never qualified for a World Cup before.

Chile's World Cup story got off to a dream start too, with Rodrigo Fernandez scoring his country's first-ever points at the tournament with a sixth-minute try.

Any suggestions that Japan could this time be on the wrong end of an almighty upset against the tournament's lowest-ranked team were quickly dampened, though, with Amato Fakatava going over to level things up just a couple of minutes later.

Chile were resolute in defence, though, with Japan being forced to wait until the half-hour mark for their second try - scored by Jone Naikabula - before Fakatava went over for a second time on half time to make it 21-7 at the interval.

Alfonso Escobar briefly reduced the deficit back to single figures with Chile's second try of the day, but Michael Leitch went over five minutes later on the day he became the joint-second highest appearance-maker in Japan's history.

Chile understandably faded towards the end of the contest, with Ryoto Nakamura and Warner Dearns both going over for Japan in the final 10 minutes to give the scoreline a one-sided look in favour of the 2019 quarter-finalists.

The tournament debutants will nonetheless be encouraged by their performance heading into next Saturday's meeting with Samoa, while Japan face England in their next game one day later.