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Canada loses to the Red Roses in the first of two matches in England

Rugby 15s Senior Women

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team met the Red Roses in Exeter on Saturday for the first time since the 2021 Rugby World Cup (played in 2022) semi-final, with the hosts taking the win 50-24 at Sandy Park.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team met the Red Roses in Exeter on Saturday for the first time since the 2021 Rugby World Cup (played in 2022) semi-final, with the hosts taking the win 50-24 at Sandy Park.

Back-and-forth play ensued for the first 20 minutes. England scored twice to kick off the game, with Justine Pelletier getting Canada on the board in the tenth minute, making use of a dummy pass to sidestep England’s defence. A conversion from Sophie de Goede put the score at 12-7 for England.

Moments later, England furthered their lead, but a battle mere metres from England’s try line led to a try from Tyson Beukeboom to close the gap 17-12.  

Two more tries and conversions from England put the hosts at 31-12 at half-time.

“We started very poorly, we know that, we shared about that at half-time,” said Head Coach Kevin Rouet. “We gave them easy tries, so we know we have to fix that. I think offensively we had some good moments, but we have to be more consistent against those best teams. We created a lot of try opportunities, but we only got 24 points and I think we should have scored more. We know we have to be better at defence and we know we have to refine our offence and just be better with the details.”

England struck once again 15 minutes into the second half. Down 38-12, Canada regained some momentum with a try from Emily Tuttosi and another conversion from de Goede. Canada scored a second in quick succession, a play that started with an offload from de Goede to Paige Farries, who sprinted down the wing before passing the ball off to Olivia Apps. The Canadians worked collectively to move the ball to the opposite wing, with Madison Grant scoring Canada’s fourth try of the game.

The final minutes saw England score two more tries, with an impressive tackle from Magali Harvey helping prevent another.

“It’s definitely a bit frustrating. We have all the pieces, and so we’re just still learning on putting them together, but at a certain point we’ve got to start performing,” said de Goede. “We just didn’t get that performance that we wanted today, but the nice thing is that we have another go out against the same team next weekend. England is obviously a hard test every single time we play them, so we’ve got a lot to take away from today.”

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team will meet England once more before heading to New Zealand for WXV, with kick-off set for 7:00 a.m. PT / 10:00 a.m. ET (3:00 p.m. local time) on Saturday September 30 at StoneX Stadium in London. Tickets are available for purchase on the England Rugby website

The NFP Forward & Back Game Changers is back, and fans can vote virtually for the players (one forward and one back) who they think were game changers for Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team against England. Fans can vote here for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card and a signed jersey. Voting closes on Monday September 25 at 11:59 p.m. ET.