How Canada's rise has been fuelled by previous England heartache

Take a look around the Canada changing room at Allianz Stadium on Saturday afternoon and you will see faces etched with the memories of scars inflicted by England.

Canada have beaten the Red Roses only three times in 37 attempts and have not tasted victory in the fixture since 2016. Unsurprisingly, almost every player selected for the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 final has a tale of heartache at the hosts’ hands.

Whether it’s the triumvirate of survivors from the 2014 World Cup final, which the Red Roses won 21-9 in Paris, or the players who made their Test debuts on the disastrous tour of England three years later, motivation is not a commodity in short supply.

And then, of course, there was the semi-final in Auckland three years ago. A match of which head coach Kevin Rouet says, “all the metrics were in our favour, but not the score”.

You might think, therefore, that Canada are approaching Saturday’s date with destiny with a degree of caution. But you would be very wrong.

A team that has punched well above its weight for years now, Canada made no secret of their desire to go all the way at the World Cup.

This is a squad that raised nearly CA$1 million to help close the funding gap to their main rivals and have been trailed around the country by a documentary crew as they attempt to make history.

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According to Canada Rugby, the ‘Mission: Win Rugby World Cup’ campaign had hit 95% of its target by Wednesday, taking the squad’s budget to nearly CA$3.6m and ensuring they are the best prepared Canadian team to ever compete at a World Cup.

Moreover, this is a squad that has taken learnings from all the disappointments they have experienced on a rugby pitch to make themselves better. As so many of the players have relayed on their journey from York to Manchester, Exeter, Bristol and now London, this is a team that believes.

Flanker Karen Paquin played 80 minutes of the showpiece match at Stade Jean Bouin 11 years ago, as she did in the semi-final in 2022. She says Canada can’t get too hung up on what has happened before.

“Being part of the 2014 final, there’s one thing that I learned and that’s that you’re not trying to beat the team of 2014. You’re trying to beat the team that’s in front of you,” Paquin says.

“I take massive pride in what we did back then. We all knew that we wanted to go one more [step] and we didn’t at that point.

“And I know that it’s not about being better than that, it’s about beating the people that are going to be in front of us. And yeah, it’s fuel in terms of pride, and I know the people from that team are all behind us big time. We hear it, we feel it, they message us.

“But we’re really focused on what’s happening here. It’s a different team, it’s a different coach, everything is different about it. So, we’re just focused on what we have to do here to make that happen.”

Justine Pelletier set the tone for the stunning semi-final victory against New Zealand last Friday when she sold half of Ashton Gate a dummy inside eight minutes to score the first of Canada’s five tries in Bristol.

That moment, celebrated in front of 24,392 fans, must have seemed light years away from her Canada debut, which came in a 79-5 defeat to England in north London in November 2017.

For England that game is famous for being the launchpad for Jess Breach, who scored six tries at StoneX Stadium, Abby Dow, Hannah Botterman, Zoe Harrison and Ellie Kildunne. But it was no less important for their opponents.

Three months after finishing fifth at the 2017 World Cup a youthful Canada lost all three Tests against the Red Roses, subsequently being beaten 49-12 and 69-19 at the Stoop and Twickenham respectively.

But crucially, the foundations for their return to Allianz Stadium eight years later were laid in the minutes handed to the likes of Pelletier, McKinley Hunt, Emily Tuttosi and Courtney O’Donnell.

“That tour was very hard on us,” Pelletier admits. “We call it the dark tour because we were 17 new caps, and it was very impressive to be in there… I was, 21, something like that.

“Now with all this experience, I go there with [a feeling] that I want more than what we have shown in those earlier years.”

It’s clear the players have used the adversity as fuel to grow. “It’s crazy because we’re a bunch of girls that have been together all these years, from my U20 years,” she adds.

“We’re a big group and I think again, those connections on the field, off the field, everything we went through [have helped us]. When you go through hard tours or hard games or a hard moment as a team, it always makes you stronger.

“So, I think those memories are good for us because it’s good bonding.”

Pelletier and Paquin both played the full game at Eden Park as Canada ran England incredibly close in the semi-finals of the last World Cup.

Despite falling 12-0 behind within the opening 15 minutes, the Canadians rallied to level the scores at 12-12 and were within four points with 10 to play. Ultimately, England were grateful to three Emily Scarratt penalties as they saw out a 26-19 victory.

That match was arguably the first sign of how good Canada could and would be under Rouet, who had only taken the job six months before the tournament.

“We were very close last World Cup,” he says. “It’s hard sometimes but we were not ready in that kind of high-pressure game to deliver, and I think that’s a big difference.

“Also, we changed the way we play for sure because it was six months, building confidence takes time. So, I think I saw that one and a half year ago, that we were going the right direction and we do a lot of good stuff.

“Our win against New Zealand one and a half years ago helped us to believe in that also. So, I think all those metrics going in the right direction for us, after that, it’s one more game for sure.”