'The party has started': Canada ecstatic after second place WXV 1 finish
It was hard to keep the smiles off any Canadian faces at Go Media Mt Smart Stadium, after the side beat France 29-20 in their final WXV 1 match.
The result, along with England’s big win over New Zealand later on that evening, meant that the Canadians finished second in the inaugural tournament.
“I’ll be honest with you: the vibes are high,” said wing Paige Farries, whose breakout from her own 22 early in the second half eventually led to a crucial Krissy Scurfield try.
“It’s nice to finish with some success, and we’re not going to get to see each other for six months. So I think this is the perfect way to end. And the party has started.”
Canadian coach Kevin Rouet is pleased with the way his side bounced back after a disappointing loss to England last weekend in Dunedin, especially the way they regrouped after being 10-0 down early against France.
“Yeah, we had a tough first 40 minutes. France was better than us for like almost 40 minutes, but we were still in the game,” he said.
“And I think I was proud of the girls we took at halftime in the second half was a bit of a game for us and I'm happy with that win against France. It was good for us to win against a top three team.
“We know we were still in the game and we were against the wind. And if you don’t see that, but there was a lot of we so we knew if our kicking game was back as soon as we were going to put them on our side, we’re going to get to do mistakes and we’re going to enjoy that. And just like it’s our last 40 minutes, so we knew we have to give everything to just get the win. And they made the job after that. It was great to see that it was a very balanced game that came out of their system.”
Captain Sophie de Goede shared her coach’s emotions.
“Yeah, it’s really good to bounce back,” she said.
“We’ve been trying to be a top three team all year and we’ve had five chances at it now and so, you know, frustrating all four losses in the first four chances. But it’s nice to finish on a win and we’ll have six months to our clubs or to train on our own back home in Canada. And we’re mostly best friends, so we’ll stay in touch. Stay in contact, we’ll keep working on our rugby individually and then we’ll come back together.”
Flanker Sara Svoboda praised her side’s composure, especially when they were trailing at halftime.
“I think something we really hang our hats on is our ability to stay controlled and composed,” she said.
“We have a lot of young girls in the squad that have brought a lot of energy that we can exploit in the second half. But we also have a lot of wise heads that have been around and seen a lot of high-level rugby, a few of like a couple of the girls have been in a few World Cups and although it is a new tournament where they’re not strangers to international rugby.”
Player of the match Fancy Bermudez, whose 66th-minute try ultimately was the difference maker for the Canadians, said that her first season in the national fifteen-a-side squad had been an excellent experience, even though she missed the first two WXXV 1 matches with injury.
“So coming to the fifteens program, it’s just the culture is just something special and I’ve felt really lucky to come in to such a great team. Just being in this environment, it makes it easy. Even like two weeks of not dressing was still made fun and so exciting and like the environment was still so electric. So, I’m just happy to be part of this team.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Who listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
40 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
40 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
39 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
1 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
40 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to comments