As his kick from in front of the posts sailed between the uprights early in Canada's Rugby World Cup match against Japan on Tuesday afternoon, it didn't dawn on James Pritchard that he had just scored his 400th point in capped appearances for Canada.

He had been aware that he was coming close to the 400-point mark, but his mind was on other things when his points tally ticked over to the milestone.

"I knew I was heading to 400, but it didn't cross my mind during the game," Pritchard said. "Not even when I kicked the points. I was just concentrating on the game.

"It probably wasn't until late last night when I was watching the game on television that I figured it out."

As bad luck would have it, Pritchard was forced to withdraw from the game late in the first half, without tallying any more points, after a knock to the head left him unconscious and with blurred vision.

Pritchard sits in third place on Canada's all-time scoring list, behind Bob Ross with 424 and Gareth Rees with 491.

And while the milestone is a feather in his cap, he would have preferred to celebrate a victory, rather than the 23-23 draw that Canada and Japan eventually fought to, making it the second World Cup in a row the two teams have tied each other in.

"I was a bit upset that I couldn't finish the game," Pritchard said. "It would have been better if I could have stayed on and we won, but that's the game of rugby, isn't it."