‘The odds are against us…’: Wallaroos captain on quarter-final ‘pressure’

Wallaroos captain Siokapesi Palu has acknowledged that while “the odds are against us” in the lead-up to Saturday’s quarter-final clash with Canada, the pressure is on the world’s second-ranked side to progress to the final four.

Canada are widely considered one of the title favourites at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, and perhaps the greatest threat to England’s hopes of taking out the showpiece event on home soil in just a matter of weeks.

Coach Kevin Rouet had helped guide the Canadians towards some famous results since taking up the position in March 2022, which included a first-ever win away to the Black Ferns in 2024 and later a draw with the New Zealanders in Christchurch four months ago.

Laurian Johannes-Haupt on the evolution from player to coach and #RWC2025 quarterfinal

Laurian Johannes-Haupt on the evolution from player to coach and #RWC2025 quarterfinal

In this year’s Pacific Four Series, Canada also recorded a 45-7 win over Australia at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium. That performance, and an otherwise unbeaten run so far in 2025, has the Canadians positioned as the favourites for Saturday’s quarter-final.

But the Wallaroos are focused on an upset. Fly-half Faitala Moleka issued a rallying cry before facing England last weekend, saying she wasn’t ready to go home, and the self-belief within Australia’s camp remains strong.

“[Moleka is] very mature, she’s a game-driver so she’s got a real good head on her to begin with,” Palu told reporters on Thursday.

“For someone of an age like that to have those kind of ambitions, it shows that we are building something really good here. We’re all on the same page, we all want to make sure that we give everything we’ve got because we know what lies ahead of us.

“The odds are against us this game and the pressure then gets bounced back on Canada. It’s up to them to I guess perform to what people are expecting of them.

“If that means it allows us, I guess, to take that pressure off and us and play a little more freestyle rugby which we’re really good at, hopefully that puts belief in us that we can execute what we need.”

When the Wallaroos hosted Canada in Brisbane four months ago, McKinley Hunt scored in just the second minute, which gave the visitors an early lead. Karen Paquin and Julia Schell also scored tries, as the Canadians ran up a commanding advantage.

Desiree Miller scored Australia’s sole try, as they finished their Pac Four Series campaign with a 38-point defeat. That match followed a hard-fought performance against New Zealand and a win over the USA at Canberra’s GIO Stadium.

Months later, the Wallaroos set the tone in their first World Cup match with a 73-0 triumph over Samoa. They were held to a tense 31-all draw with the USA in York, and led England until the 31^st minute in another interesting Pool A encounter.

As Jo Yapp explained, the Wallaroos coaches have “been massively impressed” with the growth and progress of the group, who played seven Tests before heading to the World Cup. It’s do-or-die now as both Australia and Canada look to earn another two weeks at the tournament.

“In all fairness, I don’t think we always see it on the field because they are still quite a young group, so sometimes we do lose our way a little bit and then we come back,” Yapp said.

“For us, the progress that we’ve seen, especially in and around our training and how they conduct themselves as athletes and how they look after themselves, that’s just been really impressive and it’s set them up in a really good way post this.

“You can see the time that they’ve had together in the camps and the connection time has really made a big difference and that obviously needs to continue.”