England Rugby Earned WXV 1 Title With Win Over Rugby Canada

ANALYSIS – The Rugby Canada turnovers played a role in the game, as they did not take advantage of England Rugby’s yellow cards in the second half at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This played a role in England Rugby aka the Red Roses to win the game, despite receiving two yellow cards in the second half. However, there was also no mistake that England Rugby earned the victory over Rugby Canada in Sunday's game at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with their fantastic performance on the defensive end of the ball.

England Rugby Earns WXV 1 Title With a 21-12 Win Over Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada Turnovers

Rugby Canada’s turnovers played a big role in the loss against England Rugby aka the Red Roses. Whenever England turned the ball over, Canada would give it back, some examples of this include:

-????????? Canada turned over the ball a lot, this included at least eight lineouts where England was able to intercept the ball.

-????????? Canada’s made a big mistake by not keeping the ball. As a result, England was able to score even with being a woman down.

It seemed that whenever Canada was in a strong position, they were not able to take advantage of their scoring opportunities. The costliest one was the one that led to a try scored by Sarah Bern in the 67 minute of play, that try put the momentum on England’s side as Asia Hogan-Rochester shortly came back on the field after serving her 10-minute yellow card suspension.

However, to give credit to England, those lineout turnovers might have been created because of England’s work on their set pieces, as Marlie Packer of the Red Roses said this (Source: England Rugby Website):

"Today was a really tough battle set piece-wise. Scrum time we worked really hard. Defensively we were outstanding. We need to come away from this tournament and up it a notch.”

England Rugby Got Through the Yellow Card Situation

For 20 minutes in the second half, England were a woman down. However, despite that, England was able to even the score within those 20 minutes with a 7-7 score by that time. ?

Yes, Canada made their turnovers, however. England still had the ability to remain on Canada’s side of the field for more than half the time. That played a huge role in Canada not winning the game against England.

They also showed a bit more experience, as they were less prone to mistakes, even though they were not perfect, and put Canada under pressure.

England Rugby’s Defence Was Excellent

England Rugby’s defence was fantastic as they made some big plays throughout the game. Some examples include:

-????????? Holding Paige Farries and preventing her from scoring a try late in the first half.

-????????? England’s defence in general was well organized and battled Canada very well in the scrums.

The defence of England was a huge reason why they won the game. This is what Packer said about being together in the second half and the chemistry the players had with each other (Source: England Rugby Website):

"We knew tactically what we wanted to get after in that second half - both the backs and the forwards really bought into that and then it was about who was going to inspire and show why we are number one in the world."

Other Factors: Alex Tessier Played Very Well for Canada

Alex Tessier had a good game, as she showed positive energy and attacked the England Rugby defence hard as she scored one try and almost scored another.

There is also a level of respect England has for Canada, who have come up the last two years and is now the second-ranked team in the world. Despite not playing their best game, Canada’s Tyson Beukeboom still felt like they could compete with the best teams in the world (Source: Rugby Canada Press Release):

“The biggest takeaway from this game is that we can compete with the top team in the world,” said Canada’s captain Tyson Beukeboom . “I think we really challenged them. I think there were moments where they were very worried. We had more opportunities than they did and that is a testament to the grind that this team puts in and how hard we work.”

In the same press release, Beukeboom mentioned this about the Canadian defence:

“When you play a team like England it will come down to whoever wants to put their body on the line,” added Beukeboom, speaking about her team’s defensive effort . “I think our team did that really well.”

That is true, as Canada only gave up 21 points, including only seven points in the first half. Rugby Canada was also forced to defend a lot throughout the game and also made big defensive stops to keep themselves in the game and even led during some parts of the game as well.

READ MORE: Rugby Canada Defence – Big Reason for Win Against Irish Rugby

However, in the WXV 1 standings, Canada finished third, as they were unable to get the bonus point by losing within seven points or by scoring at least four tries. This meant that Ireland, in their first-ever WXV 1 competition, finished second in the competition after beating the U.S. on Friday.

In the other WXV 1 game, New Zealand defeated France, which resulted in both teams finishing the tournament with one win and two losses.

READ MORE: Rugby Canada v England Rugby: A Match for the WXV 1 Title

What Needs to Happen Next for Rugby Canada

READ MORE: Kévin Rouet: The Women’s 15’s Rugby Canada Head Coach

For Rugby Canada, despite the loss to England Rugby, they had a fantastic year in 2024. They have beaten France twice and New Zealand once within the last year and a bit.

The next logical step right now is to try to get into a professional women’s rugby union league, which may seem unlikely. The other choice, which is much more realistic, is to get at least one-two professional women’s rugby union teams in the upcoming American league called the Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) league that is starting next year.

This is pure speculation, but the four cities that should be considered would be Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria (or Langford). Montreal could be a wildcard in that list.

What might be a bigger priority for the Rugby Canada women’s 15’s team is to get professional contracts for the players themselves. This was revealed in Neil Davidson’s The Canadian Press article, where the article stated that:

“Rouet says Canada and the U.S. are the only teams in the women's top 10 whose players are not under contract with their governing body.”

This may become a disadvantage in the future, and one that should be looked at being rectified. Still, if Canada can get one of these two things sorted out, they would be in good standing to hold on to their status as one of the top teams in the world.

Rise of Professional Women Sports in Canada

READ MORE: Rugby Canada’s Speed and Lineout Were Elite

Professional women’s sports are becoming a big thing in Canada with three Professional Women’s Hockey League/Ligue professionnelle de hockey féminin (PWHL/LPHF) teams, an upcoming 2026 WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) team coming to Toronto and the creation of the Northern Super League/Super Ligue du Nord (NSL/SLN) league. The NSL/SLN is an upcoming professional women’s soccer league in Canada that will begin its inaugural season next April. ??

There are also people in Canada involved in trying to bring a professional women’s basketball league (Source: Myles Ditcher of CBC News) and a major women’s cricket league (Source: Talia Ricci of CBC News) to this country. With the rise of professional women sports in Canada, this what president of the Toronto WNBA team, Teresa Resch said about the rise of professional women’s sports in Canada and North America in relation to the WNBA team coming to Toronto (Source: Courtney Shea of Toronto Life):

?“With the rise of women’s pro sports in North America, the timing is perfect. Finally, we have the fan base and the finances.”

This can also be the case for a pro women’s rugby union team and/or league of some sort in Canada if it can be organized and sorted.

What Is Next for Both Teams

For both England and Canada, there are two major tournaments that will be played. Both teams will compete in the 2025 Rugby World Cup (taking place in England) in late 2025. Both teams’ priority though in 2025 will be the 2025 Pacific Four Series for Canada and the 2025 Guinness Women's Six Nations for England. Both Canada and England will enter these two competitions as defending champions.

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Photo Credit: Rugby Canada X Account on October 12, 2024 .