Canada’s Senior Women’s 15s Fall To World No. 1 England, 51-12

November 14 (London, ENG) - Canada’s Senior Women’s 15s faced England at Twickenham Stoop, November 14th in London, playing to a 51-12 decision against the No. 1-ranked Red Roses in their third of four Fall fixtures, presented by DHL Rugby.

Paige Farries and Sabrina Poulin registered tries for Canada in Sunday’s match, while Brianna Miller converted on Poulin’s try .

Laura Russell made history in the Sunday match, becoming just the fourth Canadian woman to earn 50 caps for Canada, joining sister Kelly Russell—head coach of Rugby Canada’s Maple Leafs Academy program—Gillian Florence and Maria Gallo on the shortlist.

Canada came out to play in the opening half and showed great resolve after going down early following a try from England debutant Heather Cowell, with Farries taking advantage of a turnover on the left wing and touching down between the posts to allow teammate Brianna Miller to covert for the 7-5 lead. The lead marked the first time England had trailed any opposition in their run of Fall fixtures.

England responded with a try from Sarah Burn and successful conversion before adding a penalty goal for the 15-7 lead just over a half hour into the match.

The back-and-forth scoreline continued, as Canada answered back with a try from Poulin, who put forth a great individual effort, cutting through her England defenders to touch down and pull Canada within three points of levelling the scoreline.

England’s Cowell would add her second try of the match just prior to the half time whistle to give the Red Roses a 20-12 lead at the break.

The home side then showed why they had won 16 straight matches during the second half, with Player of the Match Sarah Bern finding a hole in Canada’s defensive line, opening up play with her second try of the afternoon—the first of five second half tries from her side.

“I thought today was a great way to see where we were at as a team,” said Canadian head coach Sandro Fiorino. “There were a lot of great learnings from that standpoint.”

Canada’s play remained inspired throughout the second half but were unable to add to their point total against the World No. 1. The English bench experience, with 330 collective international caps, made significant impact on play  and aided in identifying the holes in the Canadian defense.

“This test match gave us an opportunity to view where our strengths are as a team,” added Fiorino. “There are obviously areas we can identify moving forward to close the gap on the top teams over the next nine months, so that we can get the performance we are looking for at the upcoming 2022 World Cup.”

Canada’s Senior Women’s 15s squad next head to Wales to conclude their Fall Tour on November 21, 2021. The match begins at 17:00 local time and will be available to view live in Canada on TSN.ca or through the TSN app, with an encore tape-delayed broadcast on TSN. For more information, please visit www.rugby.ca.

ABOUT RUGBY CANADA
Rugby Canada is the national governing body of the sport of Rugby Union in Canada. They administer and operate Men’s and Women’s Senior and Junior National programs in both rugby 15s and 7s, as well as govern the Club and community game for more than 30,000 registered participants from coast to coast in conjunction with ten Provincial Union members.

Rugby Canada is headquartered at the Al Charron National Training Centre in Langford, BC, residing on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish, Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ), Te’mexw Treaty Association, and Lekwungen/Songhees peoples, with staff also working from Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. Rugby Canada business operations, programs and events are delivered nationwide, including the internationally recognized HSBC Canada Sevens annual tournaments.