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Recent history: What happens when the Red Roses play Canada?
By Joe Harvey
On Saturday afternoon England will meet Canada for a shot at 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup glory.
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Twickenham Stadium will see the 38th meeting of World Rugby’s first and second ranked teams, and a repeat of the 2014 World Cup final. That afternoon it was the Red Roses who ran out as victors thanks largely to Emily Scarratt’s 16-point haul in Paris.
The weekend’s meeting is surely a meeting of the World Cup’s top two teams. Canada secured their place in the final thanks to a dominant first half performance against New Zealand and a 34-19 win at Ashton Gate.
Less than a day later England laboured past France in the south west. Ellie Kildunne dotted down twice in the Meg Jones inspired performance.
For Jones it was the perfect landmark outing to precede her nomination for World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year, an award she has been nominated for alongside Canada’s Sophie de Goede.
So there we have it. The top two teams in the world. Some of the top players. And 80 minutes to decide who can lift a trophy into the early evening sky on a Saturday in late-September.
But there is a rich history too. Those previous 37 meetings have never been dull. Here is a look at the last three meetings between England and Canada.
2024 | Canada 12-21 England
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Nearly a year on from this game in Vancouver it is important to remember how close this game was.
For 80 minutes at BC Place Canada and England went toe-to-toe in the 2024 WXV 1 decider. Justine Pelletier opened the scoring in just the fourth minute for the hosts only for Maud Muir’s converted effort to land the Red Roses in the lead at half-time.
The second half was a similarly close-run thing, with a score for Alex Tessier wiped out by efforts from Sarah Bern and Zoe Aldcroft’s 80th minute score.
It was hardly a full-blooded affair. More a game of chess than anything else. It came down to who wanted it more. This weekend is likely to offer a far different result.
2023 | England 45-12 Canada
Lark Atkin-Davies’ quartet of tries for the Red Roses sank any Canadian hopes of upsetting England in Dunedin.
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From virtually minute one England dominated under interim head coach Louis Deacon as John Mitchell finished up his time with the Japan national team.
Kildunne was the first try scorer before Atkin-Davies began to rumble her way over the whitewash with two first half efforts.
Emily Tuttosi did dot down for Canada in those opening exchanges, but the hooker’s efforts proved to be a minor speedbump in an England charge for the first-ever WXV 1 title.
A Paige Farries score early in the second half brought a brief resurgence of Canadian hope before two more for Atkin-Davies, and efforts from Jess Breach and Claudia MacDonald (now MacDonald-Moloney).
2023 | England 29-12 Canada
A week on from a 50-24 loss to England in Exeter and Canada put out a proud performance at StoneX Stadium in north London.
Losing by 17 points may seem cut and dry, but this five-try loss was anything but. Reduced a player in the 17th minute for a high Gabrielle Senft tackle, it was a remarkable show resilience from the Canadians.
Senft’s dismissal came after Marlie Packer and MacDonald had opened the scoring for England. Before the break Muir had made her way over the try line, while Sara Svoboda had got the Canadians on the scoreboard.
In the closing 40 minutes Canada made life incredibly difficult for an England side intent on pulling away. A couple of false-starts later Amber Reed and Breach dotted down either side of Taylor Perry’s effort to complete the contest.
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