'We wanted to go for the win': Why Canada took a draw against the Red Roses

When Claire Gallagher booted the ball into touch at full-time of Canada’s 26-26 draw with the Red Roses, there were boos at Sandy Park.

The sold-out crowd in Devon wanted to see a winner. Everyone across the world did. Even so, you could see the practicality in the world’s third-ranked side taking a first-ever draw against the team that bested them in the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 final.

It had been an enthralling WXV Global Series encounter between the two teams. From start to finish, they went blow for blow. Thankfully, we will get two more instalments of these foes battling it out in October in Toronto and Ottawa.

In the opening 40 minutes, braces for England’s Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Canada’s DaLeaka Menin, along with efforts from Lizzie Gibson and Hannah Botterman, had the scoreboard reading 19-all.

The second half was far more attritional, but nothing could separate the teams either, as scores from Bryony Field and Olivia Apps cancelled one another out.

In the final quarter, it seemed as though England were on top. Centimetre by centimetre, the Red Roses made their way towards the Canada try line. Which is what made North American relief so abundant when Moloney-MacDonald knocked the ball on while charging forward.

When the scrum was set, the ball was fired over to Gallagher by Justine Pelletier. One kick later and the game was done.

“On the field, we wanted to go for the win,” De Goede told BBC Sport at full-time. “Comms came in from the sideline to go for touch. We trust our coaches and our staff – they probably have cooler heads in that moment.

“We back them and the series is alive. We have two more games and they’re on Canadian soil. Finally we get to play them in Canada. We know that crowds are going to turn out in Toronto and Ottawa.”

“We chatted about it,” Rouet said. “We’d defended for the past 20 minutes on our line and couldn’t exit. I think it’s a conversation, we could have scored, but we haven’t been able to exit. We can reflect on it and see if we could have scored on a scrum on our 22m. I’m not sure.”

It is now the matter of those two Test matches in Toronto and Ottawa that will take centre stage. Yes, Canada play France in the meantime and the Red Roses will host the Black Ferns at Allianz Stadium, but each team’s WXV Global Series will be defined by their best-of-three.

Canada have shown, again, that they can hang with England. Just as there was a growing sense that Canada could finally beat the Black Ferns, there is now a feeling that their 10-year wait for a win over England could soon be over too.

“It’s interesting,” Rouet said. “A draw is still a draw. What I like with the girls, after the game, they didn’t seem to be content about that. I love this group and I wish for us to have a win against England, but we’ll take the draw today.”