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Beukeboom enjoys 'surreal' afternoon as Canada enter quarter-finals on high
By Joe Harvey
Tyson Beukeboom could not believe that she had become the most capped player in Canadian history.
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On Saturday afternoon the lock forward won her 81st to surpass Aaron Carpenter’s previous record, as Canada locked up first place in Pool B with a 40-19 win over Scotland and a 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash with Australia at Bristol’s Ashton Gate Stadium.
The 34-year-old made her Canada debut in 2013 and was part of the squad that finished as runners-up to England at the 2014 Rugby World Cup in France.
“It’s so surreal,” Beukeboom said. “I’ve said to a couple of people now that I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that it’s me.
“But ultimately, it’s a testament to how far our programme’s come. We had two girls with 50th caps today (Brittany Kassil and Courtney O’Donnell), so the number of people making big-number caps is growing and growing.
“That’s really exciting that I’m probably not going to hold on to that for very long, the lead. The young girls coming through, they’re going to catch me pretty quickly.”
Canada held off a spirited Scotland at Exeter’s Sandy Park to wrap up another bonus point win. Mastercard Player of the Match, Emily Tuttosi, dotted down twice in Devon as the Exeter Chiefs front-row returned to Sandy Park for the afternoon.
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It was the Canadians’ toughest game of the tournament so far. It took until the final 25 minutes for Tuttosi and her teammates to pull clear of the Scots thanks to a second try for the hooker and scores for fellow front-rows Brittany Kassil and Olivia DeMerchant.
“A lot of us hadn’t played Scotland before,” Tuttosi said. “We knew they would bring the fight, and this wind also makes it a tale of two halves, but a fun physical game of rugby out there and I think some good rugby played by both sides.”
When asked about what ending Saturday with a win meant to Canada, Beukboom said that the and her teammates “can’t really ask for more”.
Over the past two years the Maple Leafs have established themselves as real contenders for this edition of the World Cup.
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Having displayed their unpredictable attack in their wins over Scotland, Wales and Fiji, the Canadians have started to live up to the expectation that has surrounded them.
Now they prepare for a clash with Australia at Ashton Gate Stadium. The North Americans have never lost to the Wallaroos in their previous seven meetings and Canada have the memory of their 45-7 Pacific Four Series win in May to call back on too.
“Really excited, we knew coming into it that we wanted for sure to make it out of pool play, we’ve done that and we’ve set ourselves up hopefully for success in the quarters,” Tuttosi said.
“Bristol’s just up the road but we’re getting good at moving around, so hopefully a good week of prep for an exciting week of knockouts.”