Commanding 45-7 win over Australia propels Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team to WXV 1

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team closed out the 2023 World Rugby Pacific Four Series in Ottawa with a commanding 45-7 win over Australia. Finishing second in the tournament, Canada has qualified for the top tier of WXV, a new three-tier annual global women’s international 15s competition.

Captain Sophie de Goede started her 20-point night by scoring in the 16th minute of play after Canada strung together 15 phases prior to de Goede touching it down. With Australia offside, Canada opted for the scrum where, while Canada was driving forward, de Goede pulled away to open scoring, converting her own try to put Canada up 7-0.

Australia scored their sole try of the game just five minutes later, kicking a clean conversion to tie the game.

Throughout the remainder of the game, Canada excelled in the maul, using one in the 29th minute to move the ball to the right wing for Sarah-Maude Lachance, who sped over the try line to regain the lead for Canada.

“I think we played collectively,” said Lachance. “We made some mistakes for sure, but we were going 100% and trusting ourselves. Having that energy coming from the crowd, I think it really helped us to keep moving and going forward and having fun on the pitch.”

Playing in her 60th cap for Canada, Tyson Beukeboom marked this milestone in style, charging the ball over the line to score the first of three tries in the 35th minute. De Goede kicked her second of five conversions to increase the score to 19-7.

“What’s incredible about our team is we have so much experience and so many leaders in different ways and different styles,” said de Goede.

Canada’s captain closed out the first half by collecting seven more points. Receiving a pass from vice-captain Justine Pelletier, de Goede pushed off several Australian defenders to score between the posts, once again converting her own try to give Canada a 26-7 lead at half-time.

Five minutes into the second half, Claire Gallagher scored her first career try for Canada in just her second cap, receiving a pass from Pelletier and sidestepping Australia’s defence.

The remaining two tries belonged to Beukeboom, one from a maul that pushed the ball over the line (followed by de Goede’s final conversion), and the other coming with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game.  

Sara Cline and Mya Brubacher both entered the game in the final 20 minutes to earn their first caps for Canada.

“The best way to learn is experience and so having games against New Zealand and then Australia is good for us,” said de Goede. “Then the added pressure of doing it at home is somewhat like the added pressure of being in a Rugby World Cup tournament where stakes are higher. We had huge learnings from last weekend. It’s always nicer to learn from a win like this week, but we’ll take [it all] with us and go into WXV.”

With their performance in the 2023 World Rugby Pacific Four Series, Canada now joins New Zealand, Australia, England, France and Wales in WXV 1, which is set to take place this fall in New Zealand.

More information about the 2023 World Rugby Pacific Four Series can be found here. More information about WXV can be found here.