Canada's Connor Braid gets past Japan's Yoshikazu Fujita, right, and Chihito Matsui, center left, in their men's rugby sevens match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, on July 27, 2021 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Host Japan crashed out of medal contention in the Tokyo Olympics men's rugby sevens after receiving a 36-12 group stage thumping at the hands of Canada on Tuesday morning.

       Japan's third Pool B loss, following a disappointing 24-19 defeat to defending champion Fiji in Monday's opener and a 34-0 drubbing by Great Britain later that day, relegates the hosts into games to determine the tournament's ninth to 12th place finishers.

       Japan picked up where they left off on Monday, neither able to secure possession at restarts or complete their tackles.

       Japan's first attack foray with the ball ended in a forward pass and a high tackle with less than two minutes left in the first half sent Japan's Jose Seru to the sin bin, opening the door for Canada's third try and a 19-0 halftime lead.

       Kazushi Hano scored Japan's first try in the opening seconds of the second half after a botched offload by Canada co-captain Nathan Hirayama. Japan captain Chihito Matsui scored a consolation try in the final minute.

       From start to finish, Japan's inability to make one-on-one tackles sucked in extra defenders and gave Canada space on the flanks to exploit.

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