'It’s awesome for us': Red Roses grateful for battle against Canada

For the first time in three and a half years, the Red Roses walked off the pitch without a win.

Claire Gallagher’s kick into touch brought England’s extraordinary 39-match winning run to an end, as Canada held the reigning world champions to a 26-26 draw in a gripping WXV Global Series encounter at a sold-out Sandy Park.

England’s winning streak began in March 2023 and delivered a 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup final victory, four successive Women’s Six Nations titles, two WXV1 triumphs and a host of other accolades along the way.

But the world’s third-ranked side came out firing against the team that defeated them in the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup Final, refusing to be overawed by England’s formidable record and securing a first-ever draw against the Red Roses.

For England captain Meg Jones, the match provided exactly the kind of challenge the side wanted.

“It was amazing Test match rugby. We want a battle. We want it to be competitive and fair play to Canada, they slowed our ball down,” Jones told BBC Sport at full-time.

England were unable to find the consistency that has characterised their long winning run, with Jones acknowledging that discipline and execution had let them down at crucial moments.

“We’re always cool as cucumbers and we trust our process. Our discipline probably let us down, we didn’t get in the right areas and we didn’t really execute. We’ll brush up on that and then we’re good to go.

“We’ve got another two shots [against Canada], and we get to go again next week.”

Rather than dwelling on the result, the 29-year-old insisted England would use the Test as an opportunity to keep improving.

“We always get better and we always look to get better. When you play the best teams, they try to unlock you as much as they can, so we’ll get a lot of feedback from this and we’ll go again next week.”

The captain also looked ahead to another major challenge awaiting England, with the Red Roses set to face New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham next Saturday 26 September in the next round of the WXV Global Series.

“We like playing the Black Ferns. It’s an amazing Test match and amazing rivalry and we get to go against them at HQ, which is amazing.”

Echoing Jones’ assessment of the draw, England head coach John Mitchell told BBC Sport, “Canada were good. We were also good. At times, it was a real arm wrestle.

“We’re really in a Test series, which is great for us, so Canada need to be congratulated on their performance,” he added.

“For us, it’s about getting better and obviously there’s a greater purpose than just this one match. This is ideal for us, and it will allow us to stay focused and focus on what’s necessary to get better performances.”

Mitchell identified England’s difficulty in gaining territory during the opening half as an area for improvement, although he was pleased with the pressure his side created after the interval.

“We took a while in the first half to get access in their half. When we did that, we built some nice pressure and converted, and we had a lot of pressure in the last 20 metres of the field in that second half. We’ll learn to convert that.”

And with two more meetings against Canada still to come in October in Toronto and Ottawa, Mitchell was unequivocal about the value of being tested in this way.

“We’re in a Test series. It’s all about getting better. I love it. It’s awesome for us.”