Well, what a tournament that was! We thoroughly enjoyed our three weekends of top flight Women’s rugby and if the frenetic pace and at times brutal physicality of the final match between Canada and England are anything to go by, then next year’s World Cup in England should be a run away box office success. While we were slightly disappointed that there was FAR too much empty space in the stands at BC Place, and that Canada ultimately fell just short of the ultimate prize, both for the Women’s game as a whole and Canada in particular there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic as we look towards next year’s World Cup.
Firstly, the rugby, for the most part, was of a very high standard, with some standout games culminating in that epic final between England and Canada. As we’ve mentioned before, what we love most about the Women’s game is that it often plays out like an enthralling hybrid of the 7s and 15s codes. There tends to be a lot more open play than in the Men’s game, which makes for some fast running rugby and some spectacular offloading skills. The ball tends to be in play a lot longer, and some of the meters made statistics make one feel exhausted just going over them. For example in post contact meters made England in their final game against Canada made 215, compare that to South Africa in their 48-7 romp over Argentina in the final round of the Rugby Championship who only made 40 more at 255. There is also no lack of physicality as between them Canada and England put in 306 tackles in the Final (some of which looked positively bone jarring) compared to 269 in the final game of the Rugby Championship between South Africa and Argentina. Both Canada and England made well over 100 ball carries each, which is not far off the number South Africa and Argentina made between them in their final game of the Rugby Championship. Do you see where we’re going with this? In short, Women’s Rugby is an exciting spectacle, and we can’t wait for next year’s World Cup.
So, without any further ado, let’s unpack that game from Canada’s point of view and what we can expect from them looking ahead to the World Cup next year.
Canada shows so much promise despite the challenges they face, but there is a need for honesty in the work that now needs to be done
First up, a huge congratulations to Canada’s extraordinary women, who put on the show of a lifetime over the last few weeks. Some notable wins over France and Ireland and a heartbreaking loss to England, despite Canada being very much in the hunt for the top prize until the 70th minute, have cemented Canada’s place as the number 2 team in the world and made them genuine contenders for World Cup glory in England next year. It’s an achievement that they and every Canadian rugby fan can be hugely proud of. Unlike their main rivals, England, France, and New Zealand, Canada’s women get precious little time together to prepare for tournaments like this. It is hoped that in the runup to the World Cup this will be rectified, but it is still unlikely to be at the same level or consistency as countries like England and France, and suffer from all the funding constraints that go with it. These are concerns that France, New Zealand, and England will simply not have to reckon with. On the plus side a good chunk of Canada’s roster are getting paid as professionals in England and France and have a tough season of top flight domestic club rugby ahead of them as preparation, and a golden opportunity to get a face to face understanding of their French and English opponents come the World Cup.
Canada opened their WXV 1 account with a thrilling 46-24 win over France. Canada dominated possession, and although France had a slightly more effective kicking game when it came to territory, Canada’s work in the set pieces and their physicality in defense left France reeling at times. On attack they were ruthless and made an impressive 369 meters with ball in hand post contact, spearheaded by player of the match second rower Laetitia Royer, and caused France to have to make an exhausting 173 tackles.
Next up was a tough challenge against Ireland, which Canada won comfortably in the end 21-8 but were pushed by an Irish side exceeding all expectations. However, some of the cracks that would ultimately trip Canada up in the England game began to surface. Their lineout work started to falter badly to the point that it was a genuine liability come the England game. Tackles started to be missed, resulting in Ireland making an impressive 326 post contact meters compared to only 237 for Canada.
Then came that final game against England with it all on the line. What a battle it was, and a genuinely thrilling contest that has set the tone for the World Cup next year. It was a final worthy of the name, huge physicality from both sides, fantastic tries, and a nervy and edgy encounter right to the end. Well, almost the end, as sadly it’s hard to deny that Canada ran out of gas in the final ten minutes. So let’s unpack what struck us as to how Canada, despite a genuinely heroic and impressive effort, ultimately came short in a match which we felt to be honest they should and could have won.
First up, it has to be mentioned that England’s discipline was costly at times, and Canada failed to take advantage of it. For twenty minutes of that match, England had only fourteen players, and Canada were unable to make their player advantage count with points on the board. There were numerous occasions where Canada had an overlap out wide off a spectacular line break and in the heat of the moment didn’t take the opportunity presented, allowing England to bring them to ground and effect a turnover. Then there was the problem of the lineouts, which disintegrated at an alarming rate as the match progressed to the point where Canada ended the game with a 59% success rate, which is unacceptable at this level. They can draw some consolation from the fact that they were good at disrupting England’s lineouts causing the Red Roses to only be 10% more effective at lineout time, something they will want to capitalize on should the two meet again next year at the World Cup.
Although Canada’s scrum held its own against England, we feel it led them to believe that they could attack England’s defenses in close through a rolling maul. In our opinion, that was a huge mistake. England’s maul defense is simply the best in the world by a country mile. Canada scored their opening try in close and off the 5 meter line, which led to a misguided sense that England were vulnerable close to the try line. If you look at how the match played out England were most exposed and Canada most dangerous in broken play, as the Canadians playing at speed were able to disrupt England’s defenses and deny them the opportunity to regroup. With Canada’s lineout consistently failing, we simply couldn’t understand the value of repeatedly kicking for the corner in the hopes of mauling the ball over from a lineout that just wasn’t firing, instead of taking points from the tee to keep the scoreboard ticking over. In short, it wasn’t the best decision making and showed a slight lack of big match temperament and experience, something England has in spades.
We feel slightly uncomfortable singling out the lineout as we feel it puts Hooker Emily Tutosi in an unfair light. She is a remarkable player and tackled her heart out in this match and led the tackle count of any player from either side, but was clearly struggling with the lineout. As a result was it fair to put even more pressure on a player by constantly kicking for the corner, when as far as that aspect of her game was considered she was having a horrible day at the office? Furthermore, if that was Canada’s strategy, why leave it until the 75th minute to bring her replacement off the bench? On that note, we simply did not understand the Coaching Box decisions regarding substitutions. A lot of key substitutions only came on after the 75th minute, when Canada was exhausted and England’s bench were already making their impact felt. Furthermore, Canada had a quality bench who could have really made an impact, so why not use it? Players coming on in the dying minutes of a match hardly have the time to adjust to and take the measure of the ebb and flow of a game, making them almost redundant.
Make no mistake. England are deserved Champions once again, and their position of being ranked the number 1 team in the World is certainly not to be questioned. However, can they be beaten, we’d argue yes, and Canada had a golden opportunity to do so last Saturday in Vancouver, which sadly ended up going begging. Should the two meet again come the World Cup, which looks a distinct possibility, then the daunting prospect of playing at a packed and noisy Twickenham filled with 60,000+ English supporters as opposed to the cavernous emptiness of BC Place and its vocal but tiny group of committed 5000 spectators, will be a tough psychological hurdle for Canada to overcome. Consequently, they needed to take the opportunity presented to them as a confidence booster for the same event on a MUCH larger stage next year.
We feel confident they can, and the talent is certainly there. Add into the mix the return of talismanic Captain Sophie de Goede to bolster the leadership group of Alex Tessier, Emily Tutosi, Tyson Beukeboom, Courtney Holtkamp, DaLeaka Menin, Justine Pelletier and Claudia Apps and the sky is the limit for this team. This tournament really brought to the forefront the remarkable talents of players like Laetitia Royer, Pam Buisa, Fabiola Forteza, and Fancy Bermudez-Chavez to name but a few in a very capable group of players. None of our concerns that came out of the game against England are meant to distract from the remarkable achievements of this exceptional group of players who have made us so proud as Canadian rugby fans over the last three weeks. By contrast if they learn the lessons they need to from this kind of exposure and the heartbreaking setback of that game against England, they will have every right to challenge for the ultimate prize at Twickenham on September 27th next year.
So from all of us here at the Lineout, thank you to all of Canada’s women who made us so proud this past three weeks at the WXV and know we will be cheering you on every step of the way to the big show in England next year. You should be very proud of what you’ve achieved and how you work together as a team, and rest assured that an even bigger and brighter future awaits you all as a result!
The Lineout 