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'I love the kind of leader that she is' - Rouet praises Beukeboom ahead of record weekend
By Joe Harvey
When Canada take to the field this weekend against Scotland in their final Pool B game history will be made.
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Lock forward Tyson Beukeboom will make a record breaking 81st appearance for Canada and become her country’s leading caps winner.
The 34-year-old made her debut 12 years and will have taken part in all three of her team’s matches so far at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. She overtakes former men’s national team player Aaron Carpenter at the top of the leaderboard.
Head coach Kévin Rouet has coached Beukeboom for the past six years and could only heap praise on the forward after announcing his side for Saturday’s match at Exeter’s Sandy Park Stadium.
“She is a strong leader, even before I started coaching here,” Rouet said.
“She brings experience, she is amazing offensively and defensively and she brings a lot to the team on the field being quite violent on defence, but she’s very smart in offence.
“I love the kind of leader she is. She says what is on her mind and I like that.”
Canada’s 42-0 win over Wales nearly a week ago was far from perfect.
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In total the Canucks gave the ball back to their opponents on 27 occasions. Yet they still managed to register a six-try victory over their opponents as their attacking prowess outweighed any individual errors or misplaced efforts.
At full-time in Salford, Rouet expressed his desire to “refine” the errors that he saw in their most recent performance ahead of taking on Scotland in Sandy Park.
“We are just focusing on ourselves,” Rouet said about this week’s training.
“It was fun because we have had a few sessions with the rain, which is good for us at some points just to be able to manage that as you don’t know what can happen.
“Managing the weather, adapting our gameplan to the team we play, that sort of stuff. Small details that you can change during the week.”
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Both Canada and their opponents this weekend, Scotland, have already qualified for the knockout rounds.
Even with that in mind this weekend’s game is far from a formality.
A win for either side will see them top Pool B and take on Pool A’s second-placed side in a quarter-final clash. Losing it will see them most-likely take on England’s Red Roses. One of the sternest in rugby.
“It’s massive for us to be able to top the pool,” Canada’s loosehead prop McKinley Hunt, said, “it’s just another step towards our ultimate goal and it doesn’t really matter what happens after that.
“If we can control the match on Saturday and get a result, then we will just take next week as it comes.”
Already in the opening two matches of the World Cup and Canada have proven why they are contenders for the tournament.
Statistically the side are one of six teams to have a 100 per cent scrum success rate and have the best lineout success rate of any team in the tournament having retained 25 of their 27 throws.
Recent history is relatively few and far between for the two nations also. The last time that Canada and Scotland met was in 2018, when Lisa Thomson’s late missed penalty handed the North Americans victory in Glasgow.
Since then both teams have gone through their various iterations.
Scotland have claimed a knockout spot at the World Cup for the first time since 2002, while the Canadians are considered as true challengers for the title.
For the clash Rouet has made just two changes to his starting side, with Paige Farries replacing Alysha Corrigan on the right wing and Fabiola Forteza trading places with Caroline Crossley.
“Scotland are peaking at the right time, so it’s good for them and sometimes as a coach you are stressed as Canada,” Rouet said.
“To maybe peak too early, but I think we are on the same boat as them with two victories.
“Now it is up to us to get the third one, we are working to be a very angry opponent because we know who we could face if we lose this game [England], both teams will really want to win this game.”