Simon Middleton column: 'Canada are the best team in the world after WXV Global Series'

Well, what a WXV Global Series 2026 that was; I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did! If ever you wanted the ups and downs of international rugby laying bare, in these eight weeks of competition, there you have it. So, who were the big winners and losers, and where does it leave them going forward?

We must start with Canada; what a WXV Global they had, avenging their Women’s Rugby World Cup defeat to England in fine style and, in doing so, effectively promoting themselves to the best team in the world status. Well, in all but numbers.

There almost seemed an obsession in their desire to beat England, and what strikes me now is how that switched immediately to 2029 and their laser-like focus on the next Women’s Rugby World Cup. It is clear that nothing but winning it will count as success. I love their drive, and for me, they really are the best side in the world right now. They not only defeated England twice in a row, but also seem to have found a physical and psychological edge over them.

When you look at the manner in which they won those two games, it speaks volumes of how they have developed their game since the World Cup final.

They can be proud of their performances and very confident in the trajectory they are on. At times like this, it’s easy for teams and individuals to get ahead of themselves; there’s confidence, and then there’s overconfidence. However, I honestly don’t think they will have a problem keeping their feet on the ground. Kévin Rouet strikes me as the type of coach who knows how to keep his side on the right side of confident.

His ability to maintain the equilibrium is very evident in that, regardless of results, he never seems to get too high or too low. He strikes me as a great people manager and is someone who is always focused on performance and how they can be better as a team, which will be key to keeping them engaged and focused on what comes next.

This type of focus is what has kept England at the top of the World Rugby ranking for so long. In 2019, when I was coaching England, we were playing well and on a big winning streak, but we never stopped pushing ourselves and looking to improve. Our thought process was always, ‘we can be better than we are right now’, this was not just from the staff I might add. It came just as much from the players. In this instance, we made big changes to our training environment, making it far more physically and mentally challenging. It paid massive dividends, and we went on to win thirty games in a row, which was a world record at the time. That’s just one way to re-stimulate the group and keep them focused on becoming the best version of themselves.

Then there are those special players who never stop driving standards. Sarah Hunter never trained or played with anything less than complete commitment, intensity and enthusiasm, never compromising her focus and drive even when we were winning comfortably.

That’s what I see in Canada’s Sophie de Goede right now when I watch her play. She’s simply incredible and always finds a way to positively impact the game. I love listening to her interviews; she’s so switched on, so rugby smart, and so connected to the game and the team. Her composure in the spotlight, even immediately after a game, is the quality you need from your leaders. She’s very reflective of her coach, Rouet, in fact. Always composed and level-headed in her assessment of the performance. She’s one of the most exceptional players I’ve seen, and if there’s a better leader in the game at the moment, I’d like to see them. I feel players like De Goede, Olivia Apps and DaLeaka Menin will keep their feet on the ground and ensure Canada’s focus is always on ‘what’s next’.

However, on the flip side, teams like Scotland must find a way to climb up from rock bottom. Momentum is against them. And how do you manage that? By creating the right environment for the players, on and off the field. You need to ask yourself if it is one the players can grow and thrive in. Does it have the right components in place to support the players and set them up to succeed?

Ultimately, whether you are on a winning or losing streak, you always have to come back to performance to understand what the team is producing. Individuals and teams will be a product of the environment, as simple as that. Yes, players need to feel valued, but in a high-performance environment, they must also feel challenged and stretched in order to grow.

One of the symptoms of underperforming environments is misalignment. Sometimes the staff’s perception of the environment doesn’t match what the players are experiencing, which is why it is critical to carry out any review process as a whole. We did this with England. After every tournament, we would sit down and review it from a performance perspective. Staff and players, everyone had an input, with one common theme, ‘what will make us better?’ The idea wasn’t to dwell on issues and negatives; it was to find solutions and ways to enhance and improve the team and our game. For teams like Scotland, Japan, and Italy, who didn’t get the results they were aiming for, it starts with the environment created for the players. The quality of input generally matches the quality of the output.

If I had to pick three key words to help those teams believe they can bounce back, they would be: first, understanding. Understanding what happened will come from a comprehensive review and will ensure clarity. Solutions would be next. You might not find them immediately, but between the staff and the team you need to find an agreed way forward. The final one is Action: what we are going to do about it and how we are going to do it.

Look to the Black Ferns. They now look like a side that is capable of realising their potential. Whitney Hansen has done a great job, and they now look like a very confident side that enjoys playing together. They have scored lots of points, their defence looks solid, and their WXV Global Series record speaks for itself: five wins, one loss. Their only defeat happened in the last minute of play against England. They completely dominated France away and at home with a record-scoring series. New Zealand comes out of September-October on the same footing as Canada, really encouraged, confident, and I’ve no doubt looking forward to playing again.

As for Wales, they look like a team reborn – fair play, Sean Lynn! He has done exactly what he said he would, refreshing the side and rebuilding their confidence. Their game has real direction, and they play with energy and belief. They scored 120 points and conceded only 50, which shows how well the staff has worked to improve the team’s performance on both sides of the ball.

And what’s been the biggest influence? Well, for me it’s clear Sean now has more of the pieces in place to create the environment he wants. He has assembled a quality coaching group, and as we know, quality in equals quality out.

For me, the jury is still out on the USA Women’s Eagles. They have done some really good stuff, and won a series of games; I feel this time last year they could well have lost. They have scored plenty of points, but they have conceded lots of points as well, and they came significantly unstuck against an England side far from its best. Against Ireland, the game could’ve gone either way, but their comeback was remarkable. They are moving in the right direction, and hopefully they will keep building momentum.

The team I am really concerned about is France. They’ve gone from a side that could compete against the Black Ferns to conceding heavy losses. They have the second-worst point-conceding record in the whole WXV Global Series. At the end of the series, they averaged 16 points scored while conceding 35…

Questions will arise about what’s happened to them and what’s going on with the environment. They were the side that disappointed me most over the past two months, and I hope we can see them turn things around in the future.

All in all, WXV Global Series has been a great exhibition. World Rugby should be commended for recognising a format that didn’t work, understanding why, finding a solution and putting a successful action plan in place.