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'England's the higher ranked team': Canada not feeling the pressure before RWC semi-final
Canada captain Sophie de Goede believes the “pressures not on us” ahead of a blockbuster World Cup semi-final with England, who are on a 29-Test win streak.
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The Red Roses have well and truly stamped their ascendency on women’s rugby, and have been tipped by many to win the World Cup in New Zealand.
England started their international 2021-22 season with two dominant victories over reigning world champions New Zealand.
After winning 43-12 in the first meeting between the two traditional rugby rivals, the Red Roses went up another gear in their second Test in Northampton – beating New Zealand 56-15.
Throughout the World Cup England have continued to impress after going undefeated in pool play, including a match against France, and later beat Australia 41-5 in their quarter final.
But standing in England’s way of another World Cup final appearance is Canada, who have a “really strong belief” that they can snap the Red Roses’ win streak.
“We have some women on the team that have played in a World Cup semi-final before, and even a World Cup final, so definitely relying on those players and their expertise and experience,” de Goede said.
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“Obviously there’s pressures of a World Cup (semi) final, but externally the pressures not on us this week. England’s the higher ranked team, they’re on a 29-game winning streak.
Canada's captain Sophie de Goede was almost destined to play rugby but it was inspiration from the 2014 World Cup that proved pivotal. ?? Adam Julian shares her story. #RWC2021 #ENGvCAN https://t.co/b2fEVnA2pt
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2022
“Within our group there’s just a really strong belief. We’ll put pressure on ourselves because we know we can perform even better than what we have been doing.
“But externally we’re pretty comfortable with where we’re at and how we’re gonna perform this weekend so it’s more easy to stay grounded.”
Other than a close 13-7 win over fellow semi-finalists France in pool play, England haven’t really been tested during this World Cup.
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They’ve scored 213 points during their four matches so far, including an emphatic 75-0 win over South Africa.
As for Canada, they’re also undefeated through four games, but haven’t scored nearly as many points as their opponents this weekend.
The last 29 teams to try and beat England have failed, and while de Goede appears confident, she refused to share many “tricks of the trade.”
“They have a very strong scrum, a very strong maul, set-piece, lineout platform, and a good kicking game,” she added.
“If we can at least match in those areas, I think that’ll put us in a good place.
It's game on. ?#RWC2021 #NZLvFRA pic.twitter.com/sb5oL29NOB
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 2, 2022
“There’s no recipe and no one’s gotten it right over 29 games so hopefully we can come up with something on Saturday that is a bit of a different picture to what other teams have shown.”
Canada have been tested on their way to the World Cup semi-finals – beating Italy and rivals the United States in tough matches during pool play.
The World No. 3 took on the USA again in their quarter-final, and managed to pull away with a dominant second half to register a 32-11 win.
Head coach Kevin Rouet is confident that his team can create some history and beat England this weekend, as he’s seen them improve with every match.
“We want to be efficient with the basics for sure. The scum, the lineout, the kicking game, and we know if we could challenge them on that we could open the game for us,” Rouet said.
“Scrum, lineout that’s the basics for sure for a game, just to be efficient if you want to win a game, and the kicking game also.
“We know England is very good at that, and after that if we open the game with that, we have a lot of stuff to show.
“I’m just happy for the girls because they just worked so hard over the past even six months, leaving their jobs just to be there and just doing a lot of stuff.
“Every game we improve and that’s where we are right now. I think we totally can beat England for sure.”
Canada will look to snap England’s record-breaking winning streak in the first semi-final at Eden Park on Saturday, before the Black Ferns take the field against France for the second spot in the final.
Comments on RugbyPass
Dagg is still trying to get enough headlines to make himself relevant enough to get a job. The Crusaders went back to square one at all levels. Shelve this season and nail the next one.
4 Go to commentsHe was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
3 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
37 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to comments