It took some late heroics in their semifinal against Hong Kong to earn promotion to the three-event HSBC SVNS 2 series. With only the two finalists moving on, Canada needed to get past Hong Kong.

Canada opened the scoring with an Elias Hancock try and led 7-5 at the half at The Sevens Stadium. Captain Lockie Kratz extended the lead to 14-5 early in the second half, only to see Hong Kong pull ahead 19-14 on a pair of converted tries.

Adam Doane pulled Canada even at 19-19 with a 13th-minute try, forcing extra time. Thomas Isherwood then scored two minutes later to give the Canadians a 24-19 golden-point win.

That set up a final with Belgium, which upset previously unbeaten Samoa 26-14 in the other semifinal. The Belgians had finished runner-up to Canada in Pool B, despite winning their group-stage game 19-15.

Canada never trailed in the rematch, leading 14-10 at the half on pair of Kratz tries with Jack Shaw and Ethan Turner adding second-half tries for a 28-10 win.

On Saturday, the Canadians sandwiched wins over Italy (33-7) and Madagascar (24-17) around the Belgium loss.

The stand-alone SVNS 3 tournament featured eight men’s and eight women’s teams. The top two men’s and women’s sides earned promotion to the HSBC SVNS 2 series in Nairobi (Feb. 14-15), Montevideo (March 21-22) and Sao Paulo (March 28-29). The SVNS 2 series is one level below the elite HSBC SVNS circuit, which is home to the Canadian women.

The top four men’s and women’s teams from HSBC SVNS 2 will then join the eight HSBC SVNS core sides for the final events in Hong Kong, Valladolid, Spain, and Bordeaux, France, in April, May and June. The top eight teams over that three-event stretch will retain their core status with the bottom four relegated.

The Canadian men qualified for the HSBC SVNS Division 3 in November by winning the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens tournament in Trinidad.

Canada, relegated from the top tier in June 2024, had hoped to reclaim its place via a promotion-relegation playoff series last May after climbing out of the second-tier Challenger Series. But World Rugby rejigged the entire sevens series structure ahead of the season-ending tournament in California, taking promotion off the table.

The Canadian men, looking to continue their climb back up the rugby sevens ladder, opened with a 33-7 win over Italy at The Sevens Stadium and then lost 19-15 to Belgium before bouncing back to dispatch Madagascar 24-17.

Canada will face Hong Kong in one semifinal with Samoa taking on Belgium in the other. Samoa topped Pool A at 3-0-0 while Hong Kong was runner-up at 2-1-0.

The stand-alone SVNS 3 tournament features eight men’s and eight women’s teams.

The top two men’s and women’s sides earn promotion to the three-event HSBC SVNS 2 series in Nairobi (Feb. 14-15), Montevideo (March 21-22) and Sao Paulo (March 28-29). The SVNS 2 series is one level below the elite HSBC SVNS circuit, which is home to the Canadian women.

The top four men’s and women’s teams from HSBC SVNS 2 will then join the eight HSBC SVNS core sides for the final events in Hong Kong, Valladolid, Spain, and Bordeaux, France, in April, May and June. The top eight teams over that three-event stretch will retain their core status with the bottom four relegated.

Brenden Black, Jack Shaw, captain Lockie Kratz, Thomas Isherwood and Kal Sager scored tries against Italy with Canada padding its advantage in the second half after leading 14-7 at the break.

A Canada comeback fell short against Belgium, however. The Belgians led 12-5 at the half with Sager scoring the lone Canadian try. Isherwood and Johnny Franklin scored to give Canada a 15-12 lead, only to see Belgium pull ahead on a late converted try by Miguel Fachada.

Canada’s second-half rally was successful against Madagascar, which held a slim 12-10 lead at the half. Converted tries by Isherwood and Kratz gave Canada a 24-12 lead before the Africans scored a late try.

Adam Doane and Isherwood accounted for Canada’s first-half tries.

The Canadian men qualified for the HSBC SVNS Division 3 in November by winning the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens tournament in Trinidad.

Canada, relegated from the top tier in June 2024, had hoped to reclaim its place via a promotion-relegation playoff series last May after climbing out of the second-tier Challenger Series. But World Rugby rejigged the entire sevens series structure ahead of the season-ending tournament in California, taking promotion off the table.

The day ended with a comprehensive 31- 12 loss to France at DHL Stadium, dropping the Canadian women into Sunday’s fifth-place semifinal against Fiji. The win avenged France’s 19-12 loss to Canada in the fifth-place semifinal at last weekend’s season-opening event in Dubai.

Canada lost 26-19 to both Japan and Australia earlier Saturday. The Canadians had been beaten by both teams en route to a sixth-place finish in Dubai.

Australia and France finished 1-2 in the Pool B, moving onto Sunday’s semifinals. Australia will face the U.S. while France takes on Pool A winner New Zealand.

Cape Town is the second of nine stops on the elite HSBC SVNS rugby sevens circuit this season. Vancouver is the fifth event of the season, scheduled for March 7-8 at B.C. Place Stadium.

France retained the ball from its opening kickoff and Lou Noel beat a Canadian defender to build a 7-0 lead. Noel scored again soon after, outpacing Eden Kilgour to up the lead to 12-0.

Kennedi Stevenson put Canada on the board off the ensuing kickoff, finding a seam in the French defence to cut the lead to 12-7. But Noel, after a fine run by Kelly Arbey, scored her third try under the posts with just over two minutes left in the half to make it 19-7 at the break.

Alycia Christiaens and captain Lili Dezou added second-half tries for France, who improved to 15-29-2 against the Canadians. Christiaens, Arbey and Dezou each booted a conversion.

Pam Buisa scored a late try for Canada.

The Canadian women got tries from Carmen Izyk, Krissy Scurfield and Larah Wright against Japan, which led 14-12 at the half. Asia Hogan-Rochester and Savannah Bauder each added a conversion.

Stevenson, Izyk and captain Carissa Norsten accounted for the Canadian tries against Australia, which led 19-7 at the half. Hogan-Rochester booted two conversions.

Canada’s record against Australia and Japan on the circuit slipped to 14-32-1 and 10-5-0, respectively.

Coach Jocelyn Barrieau made one lineup change with Calgary debutante Ivy Poetker replacing injured veteran Charity Williams.

The Canadian women went 2-3-0 at Dubai, losing to Australia, Japan and the U.S. New Zealand swept the men’s and women’s cup finals in Dubai’s Sevens Stadium, defeating Australia both times.

World Rugby has revamped the HSBC SVNS format, reducing the field to just eight men’s and eight women’s teams for the first six events of the season. The field then expands for the final three stops, with promotion-relegation in the table.

The Canadian men, relegated in June 2024, are still looking to climb their way back into the top tier.

Having just won the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Trinidad, the Canadian men continue their climb up the sevens ladder at the HSBC SVNS 3 on Jan. 17-18 in Dubai.

The Canadian women finished eighth in Dubai last December. They followed that by placing fifth in Cape Town, fourth in Perth, seventh in Vancouver and third in both Hong Kong and Singapore to stand fourth overall in the six-event regular-season standings in advance of the HSBC SVNS Championship in May.

Canada won bronze at that championship finale in Carson, Calif., defeating the U.S. 27-7.

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For the Americans, who missed making the semifinals on a tiebreaker, it was a fourth straight victory after losing their opener 19-7 to Fiji. Canada finished at 3-2-0 on the weekend.

New Zealand swept the men’s and women’s cup finals at The Sevens Stadium.

New Zealand won the women’s crown, dethroning the five-time defending champion Australians 29-14. Australia had won 31 games straight in Dubai including a 24-17 decision over Canada in pool play Saturday.

The New Zealand women, who survived a 21-17 loss to the U.S. in pool play, had finished runner-up to Australia at the last three events in Dubai. 

Japan won its first-ever medal on the HSBC SVNS series by downing Fiji 22-12 to finish third on the women’s side.

The New Zealand men held off a second-half Australia rally to win the gold-medal game 26-22. Fiji dispatched France 24-7 to finish third.

Kennedi Stevenson and Charity Williams scored Canada’s tries against the U.S. Asia Hogan-Rochester added a conversion.

Stevenson opened the scoring in the second minute after a fine run by Hogan-Rochester before Kristi Kirshe cut through the Canadian defence two minutes later to pull the Americans even at 7-7.

Hogan-Rochester needed treatment midway through the half after taking an accidental boot to the face but stayed in the game.

Kaylen Thomas put the Americans ahead 12-7 early in the second half, outpacing the Canadian defence. Williams repaid the favour, racing down the sideline after Hogan-Rochester won a penalty with fine work at the breakdown. 

Williams celebrated her try with a somersault before Hogan-Rochester’s conversion gave Canada a 14-12 lead.

But Sariah Ibarra broke Canadian several tackles before passing off to Sarah Levy for the winning try in the 13th minute, snapping a four-game losing streak against Canada.

“Even though it was a fifth-place match, it felt like the final to us,” said Levy.

Canada was without Krissy Scurfield, who failed her head injury assessment.

The Canadian women now head to South Africa for next weekend’s tournament in Cape Town, the second of nine stops this season.

Canada missed out on the Dubai semifinals due to a costly 21-19 loss to Japan in its final Pool B game Saturday. Leading 19-7, the Canadians conceded two tries in the final two minutes to fall to third place in the pool — one point behind Japan.

Group winner Australia and runner-up Japan moved on to the semifinals while Canada was consigned to placement play.

The Canadians bounced back from the Japan loss on Sunday by beating France 19-12 in the fifth-place semifinal with Monique Coffey’s 12th-minute converted try deciding the match. Breanne Nicholas and Hogan-Rochester also scored Canadian tries.

In earlier Group B play, Canada defeated Britain 41-5.

World Rugby has revamped the HSBC SVNS format, reducing the field to just eight men’s and eight women’s teams for the first six events of the season — including the March 7-8 stop in Vancouver. The field will then expand for the final three stops, with promotion-relegation in the table.

The Canadian men, relegated in June 2024, are still looking to climb their way back into the top tier.

The men had hoped to reclaim their place via a promotion-relegation playoff series in May after climbing out of the second-tier Challenger Series. But World Rugby rejigged the entire sevens series structure ahead of the season-ending tournament in California, taking promotion off the table.

Having just won the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens in Trinidad, the Canadian men continue their climb up the sevens ladder at the HSBC SVNS 3 on Jan. 17-18 in Dubai.

The Canadian women finished eighth in Dubai last December. They followed that by placing fifth in Cape Town, fourth in Perth, seventh in Vancouver and third in both Hong Kong and Singapore to stand fourth overall in the six-event regular-season standings in advance of the HSBC SVNS Championship in May.

Canada won bronze at that championship finale in Carson, Calif., defeating the U.S. 27-7. 

Next year marks the start of World Rugby’s new biennial global competition featuring teams from both hemispheres in the existing July and November windows.

In 2026, the top 12 teams will take part in the World Rugby Nations Championship, while Canada and the other 11 qualifiers for the 2027 World Cup will compete in the second-tier World Rugby Nations Cup.

Teams in the Nations Cup will be divided into two regional pools, one comprising teams from the Americas (Canada, Chile, Uruguay and the U.S.) and Pacific (Tonga) and the other featuring sides from Europe (Georgia, Portugal, Romania, Spain), Africa (Zimbabwe) and Asia (Hong Kong). The winner of Tuesday’s match between Belgium and Samoa in the final World Cup qualification tournament will complete the Nations Cup field.

Each team will face all six opponents from the opposite pool with three matches in July and three in November. In 2026 and 2028, each pool will produce a champion based on competition points.

The exact Nations Cup schedule has yet to be released.

World Rugby plans a similar women’s global competition, which will mean marquee matchups for the second-ranked Canadian women.

“So that gives both our teams now regular and consistent competition,” said Rugby Canada CEO Nathan Bombrys.

While scheduling details are still being worked out, the Canadian women could host some big matches in the fall.

In the top-tier men’s Nations Championship, the Six Nations sides (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy) will each play three away games in July against the Rugby Championship teams (Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) as well as two invited countries, Fiji and Japan.

In November, those from the so-called “Southern Hemisphere group” will travel north for the remaining three rounds before the finale at the end of the month.

The first “North versus South” finals weekend will be held at Twickenham, the home of English rugby, from Nov. 27-29.

Promotion/relegation between the two tiers on the men’s side is expected in 2023, Bombrys said.

The Nations Championship will take place in every year that does not feature a men’s Rugby World Cup or a British and Irish Lions tour.

Dates and matchups, but not venues for the 2026 Nations Championship, have been released.

World champion South Africa hosts England, Scotland and Wales over successive weekends in July, when three-time World Cup winner New Zealand will be at home to France, Italy and Ireland.

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No. 16 Fiji secured the eighth and last berth at the 2026 World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea by hammering No. 17 Nigeria 62-4 later Sunday in the championship game of the International Rugby League (IRL) Women’s Rugby League World Series.

Fiji blanked No. 10 Canada 48-0 while Nigeria downed No. 8 Ireland 10-0 in semifinal play Tuesday at Terry Fox Stadium. 

No. 1 Australia, No. 2 New Zealand, No. 3 England, No. 4 France, No. 5 Papua New Guinea, No. 6 Wales and No. 12 Samoa have already qualified for next year’s World Cup, which also features the men.

The Ravens advanced to the four-team qualifier by beating the 11th-ranked U.S. Hawks 40-8 in the final of the Americas Women’s Championship last November in Jacksonville, Fla.

The Canadian women made the 2017 and 2021 World Cups, but the qualifying process was more arduous this time.

Rugby league is the lesser-known rugby code, played 13-a-side instead of rugby union’s 15-a-side. It’s a physical game with powerful forwards and elusive backs, each offering their own kind of threat.

Megan Pakulis, Eleta Mitton, Lauren Mueller and Grace Campbell also scored tries for Canada. Caitlin Sears and Maddy Aberg combined for six conversions.

Tricia Doyle had Ireland’s lone try with Storm Cobain booting a conversion.

Tied 6-6 after an error-filled first half, Canada went ahead 12-6 early in the second, taking advantage of a turnover deep in the Ireland end after two Irish players collided trying to field a kick. Mitton scored on the ensuing Canadian set.

Scholten then broke three Irish tackles on a fine solo run up the middle for an 18-6 Canada lead before Mueller sprinted 40 metres down the sideline after an Irish turnover midway to make it 24-6 through the half.

Canada kept coming with tries from Campbell and Scholten.

Both teams threatened early in the game, only to see drives end in handling errors. But Canada went ahead 6-0 in the ninth minute with Pakulis breaking a tackle to score, capping off a set that featured a sparkling linebreak by fullback Petra Woods.

Ireland had several sets deep in Canada territory after Ravens miscues, but the Canadian defence held on the first, and Ireland fumbled the ball away on the second.

Ireland missed a penalty kick midway through the first half after Canada was penalized for a tip tackle. A string of Canada mistakes and penalties halted the home team’s progress, with the Irish finally taking advantage late in the half, pulling even at 6-6 after Doyle touched down a grubber kick.

Canada’s coach Matt Barron made one change to his starting lineup with Bethany Hofstetter making her debut. Mitton moved to the interchange bench while Rebecca Kochuk dropped out of the matchday squad after taking a knock in her debut against Fiji. 

A Fijian side boasting eight players from Australia’s elite National Rugby League Women’s Premiership (NRLW) proved to be too strong in the semifinal for Canada, whose lone NRLW player was Pakulis. Six of Fiji’s 10 tries came after the 58-minute mark, with four in the last 10 minutes.

The Ravens will start the next qualifying cycle late next year with the Americas Championship. The 2028 World Cup will be a stand-alone women’s tournament. Barron plans to establish an “elite training squad” ahead of a possible European tour in July to play Scotland and Wales.

The Canadian lineup includes several professional players.

Pakulis is coming off a season with the NRLW’s Gold Coast Titans, while Mueller and Channy Crowl play in England for the London Broncos and St. Helens, respectively. Sears and Rachel Choboter play for club teams in New Zealand.

Suiting up for the Ravens remains a pay-to-play scenario, however, with the players looking after their own travel costs for the Brampton tournament.

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Meet the latest disruptor in the sports world: R360.

Rugby is having to tackle a live threat to its existing global order, an upstart co-founded by a former player married into Britain’s royal family and with reported funding from — you guessed it — the Middle East.

Over the last decade, rugby authorities have sought new markets and audiences as the sport looks to increase its global reach under its current structure and emerge from financial problems stemming mainly from the coronavirus pandemic.

R360 is putting forward an alternative. The rebel group is reportedly offering big money to players from both forms of rugby — union and league — to join a breakaway series that is hoping to launch in September 2026, play in cities around the world, and “capture the attention of a new generation of fans.”

The rugby establishment remains wary, though.

Here’s a deeper look into the battle inside rugby:

Current rugby landscape

International rugby matches between top-tier nations, including New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, England, Ireland and France, is considered the pinnacle of the traditional 15-a-side game for men and women. They come in the form of annual series in the northern hemisphere (Six Nations) and southern hemisphere (Rugby Championship), bilateral tours and Rugby World Cups every four years.

World Rugby, the sport’s global governing body, has long been trying to create a global series in men’s rugby that would bring the northern and southern hemispheres together in one competition, unifying the international calendar. Its first iteration — the Nations Championship — is set to take place in 2026.

In fast-growing women’s rugby, which just had a World Cup won by England, there is a recently launched, annual, three-tier international competition called the WXV Global Series.

On top of that, the sport is buttressed by provincial and top-flight professional club competitions, while the global rugby sevens and Olympic sevens programs are increasingly popular.

Rugby is struggling financially, though, with men’s clubs in England and Australia going out of business in recent years.

About R360

R360 is a startup fronted by former England rugby international Mike Tindall, who is married to Zara Phillips — a niece of King Charles — and is a World Cup winner from 2003.

Exact details of the venture are sketchy because R360’s website isn’t live and there has been little on-the-record comment from Tindall or any other key stakeholders.

Reports in Britain and Australia say financial backing is coming from private investment from the Middle East, the United States and Britain.

There will be six-to-eight men’s teams and four women’s teams, according to reports. They will be based in cities around the world each hosting a round of the series, like in the sevens circuit.

In a statement provided by consultants to R360, organizers “want to work collaboratively as part of the global rugby calendar” and deliver a series that will “greatly reduce player load and capture the attention of a new generation of fans globally.”

R360, the statement said, “has submitted more than 120 pages of documentation to World Rugby outlining detailed plans developed by world-leading experts on a range of areas, from competition regulations to player welfare measures to anti-doping policy.”

It has similarities to LIV Golf, which disrupted golf’s establishment when it was launched in 2022 and offered players large sums of money for a shorter season.

And like cricket’s Indian Premier League, there will reportedly be a draft to determine where players end up.

R360’s targets

According to reports, R360’s organizers have agreements in place with around 200 men’s players and approached leading players at the recent Women’s Rugby World Cup.

However, none have been named and few players have gone public with their plans to join the breakaway league.

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, the former All Blacks centre who now plays for New Zealand Warriors in rugby league, said he has been approached by R360.

The series is also reportedly targeting prop Payne Haas and winger Zac Lomax, two of Australia’s best players in rugby league.

The reaction

World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin has said the governing body is open for talks with R360 and that rugby welcomes innovation and new investment. It is wary, though.

“Investment in the game is great,” Gilpin said in July, “as long as that investment is driving into the right areas, as long as it’s creating a more financially sustainable game for players, for the wider ecosystem. Then we encourage it.”

However, the series wasn’t sanctioned by World Rugby at a meeting of the governing body’s council last month. Its next meeting is in June and only then, if approved, could R360 become an official part of the calendar.

As for the individual rugby unions, those of England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, France, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia joined forces and published a letter Tuesday in which they urged “extreme caution” for players and support staff considering joining R360.

“We all welcome new investment and innovation in rugby,” the letter read, “and support ideas that can help the game evolve and reach new audiences; but any new competition must strengthen the sport as a whole, not fragment or weaken it.”

The unions said R360 “has given us no indication as to how it plans to manage player welfare” and that its model “appears designed to generate profits and return them to a very small elite, potentially hollowing out the investment that national unions and existing leagues make in community rugby, player development, and participation pathways.”

“Undermining that ecosystem could be enormously harmful to the health of our sport,” said the unions, who want more collaboration with R360 and to “better understand their business and operating model.”

The threat

There was also a threat by the eight unions which might make star players think twice about moving to R360, especially with the next men’s Rugby World Cup — in Australia in 2027 — looming.

In the letter, they said they would be “advising men’s and women’s players that participation in R360 would make them ineligible for international selection.”

In response, R360 said it would “release all players for international matches, as written into their contracts.”

“Our philosophy is clear — if players want to play for their country, they should have that opportunity,” the R360 statement read. “Why would the unions stand in their way?”

The future

R360 says it “can’t wait to kick off next year,” amid reports of a launch in September and players having been told that the group has secured funding for three years.

Victory by five tries to two capped an astonishing World Cup cycle in which England won every match, 33 in a row, the greatest streak in international rugby.

England had lost the last two finals, and five of the last six.

But this final, drawing 81,885 people, the largest crowd in women’s rugby history, was a showcase of England’s power and pace and gave the tournament host its third World Cup title after triumphs in 1994 and 2014.

“The past certainly dictates the now and the girls hung tough in the whole tournament and connected with the nation,” England coach John Mitchell said. “I thought we were superb defensively in the tournament; our attack didn’t need to be at its best but it was effective enough to get the job done.”

Canada bossed everyone, including defending champion New Zealand in the semifinals, en route to its first final in 11 years, validating its No. 2 ranking and unbeaten run this year.

Canada’s Asia Hogan-Rochester scored a pair of tries Saturday. Sophie de Goede, who was named the 2025 World Rugby Player of the Year after the match, added a penalty kick, but missed a pair of two-point conversion attempts.

Canada sought its first title after also falling to England in the 2014 championship game.

But the best offloading team in the tournament couldn’t get its game going, crashing into England’s defence.

“We just started the game a bit flat. We didn’t quite impose our rhythm,” Canadian captain Alex Tessier said. “We didn’t panic, but we didn’t play our game, and I think that cost us the game in the long run. 

“Hats off to our girls, I think they’ve done a tremendous job throughout the tournament. I’m very proud — we all believed we could do the job, and it just didn’t go our way today.” 

England saved its best performance for its most important match since the 2022 World Cup final, when it last tasted defeat. In fact, that loss to New Zealand by 34-31 is England’s only loss in six years.

England set the tone for the final at the first scrum, shoving Canada backward. The English outmuscled Canada all afternoon.

And yet, as it has in every game, Canada scored first, glitter-faced right wing Hogan-Rochester from a two-on-one.

The lead lasted only three minutes. Fullback Ellie Kildunne, out of nothing, broke a tackle, stepped a couple more and scorched the cover to score behind the posts.

Canada tried running from its own try-line, knocked on in its half, and England turned it into pressure and another lineout drive try for hooker Amy Cokayne, who scored three similar tries in the 2022 final.

An intercept on halfway by Tatyana Heard was the origin of England’s next try, by No. 8 Alex Matthews, playing in her fourth straight final.

Canada had to score next and laid siege to England’s try-line, but the ball was poached by England captain Zoe Aldcroft. An admission to its struggle to break England’s lines was Canada’s decision to kick a penalty while 21-5 down.

That conceded ground from the kickoff to England, which earned a penalty and set up another lineout drive. But a second try for Cokayne was chalked off because of obstruction. Still, England finished the half on top when prop Hannah Botterman got her second jackal penalty and roared in delight.

The second half was more of the same. Lock Abbie Ward scored after a Matthews burst from a five-meter scrum.

Hogan-Rochester got her second try for Canada while Botterman was in the sin-bin, but a second period of sustained pressure by Canada died from a knock-on in front of the England posts, making Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney put his head in his hands.

England put the finishing touches on a powerful win when a spiral bomb spun back into its hands and Matthews ended up scoring her second try.

“They were just better than us, and we didn’t score when we had to score, so it’s a tough time,” said Canadian coach Kevin Rouet. “When you’re playing against England, if you don’t score when you have to score, you can’t win the game.”

It should make for a grand spectacle at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium before a sellout crowd of 82,000, a record for a women’s rugby test match.

“We’re excited to play England,” said 38-year-old Canada coach Kevin Rouet, a leading candidate for World Rugby’s coach of the year award. “I think it was expected that if we wanted to win the World Cup, England would be on the way.” 

“They’ve been outstanding, played really great rugby. We respect them hugely,” said England coach John Mitchell, a 61-year-old New Zealander who led the All Blacks to third place at the 2003 World Cup (thumping the Canadian men 68-6 on the way).

“They deserve to be in the final,” he added. 

England, ranked No. 1 in the world, goes into the final on a 32-match winning streak, having won 62 of their last 63 tests. The lone blemish on that record was a 34-31 defeat at the hands of host New Zealand in the final of the last World Cup in November 2022 (the tournament was originally slated to be played in 2021 but was delayed due to the pandemic).

No. 2 Canada, which dispatched the six-time champion New Zealand Black Ferns 34-19 in the semifinal, is unbeaten in 12 matches (11-0-1) since a 21-12 loss to England at the WXV 1 tournament last October in Vancouver. The Canadians led 12-7 in the second half that day, only to concede two late tries.

Both teams have named unchanged lineups, boasting physical forwards and strike runners in the backs — with plenty of firepower among the substitutes. It’s the third game in a row that Rouet has gone with the same lineup.

Canada’s matchday 23 goes into the match with a combined 894 caps, including 346 off the bench. England’s roster totals 862 caps, including 349 among the replacements. 

Fourteen of the English matchday squad played in the last final.

Canada has lost the last 13 meetings with England since a 52-17 win in July 2016 and is 3-33-1 all-time against the Red Roses. And the Canadians are 0-13-0 playing the Red Roses on English soil and 0-7-1 in World Cup meetings.

But that was then and this is now. Canada has pushed England in recent times and turned heads with its performances at this tournament.

The Canadians play an expansive rapid-fire game, with hard-nosed forwards attacking the opposition to open holes for their dangerous backline. Their connection can be uncanny at times with spectacular offloads leading to line breaks.

“It’s the most fun rugby I’ve ever had to play because there’s so much freedom,” said Canadian lock Sophie de Goede, a finalist for World Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year. “We make mistakes in the way that we play because it’s not preplanned. We’re constantly reacting to each other and so mistakes happen, but there’s also a really good ability in this team to let mistakes slide off of us and think of the next play or the next phase.

“And often we can create magic off the back of a mistake. It’s a really freeing style of play.”

The Canadians pushed England at the last World Cup, eventually falling 26-19 in the semifinal at Eden Park.

Rouet had only been in charge for eight months then, elevated from assistant coach in March 2022. This time around, he has had close to three years to work with the team, and it shows.

Asked about the difference between this year’s squad and the one that finished fourth last time out, de Goede replied: “Experience, depth and time together.” 

Canada is well acquainted with the Red Roses, given 11 members of the Canadian matchday squad play their club rugby in England.

Canada lost to England in its only other trip to the World Cup final, beaten 21-9 in 2014. 

Two members of Canada’s matchday squad Saturday took part in the 2014 final. Karen Paquin starts at openside flanker while lock Tyson Beukeboom is on the bench as she was eight years ago.

Beukeboom, who could earn her Canadian-record 84th cap, and Paquin, earning her 51st cap, are taking part in their fourth World Cup. So is prop Olivia DeMerchant, in line to collect her 66th cap off the bench.

The Canadians have finished fourth on four occasions (1998, 2002, 2006 and 2021).

England is in its seventh straight final and ninth overall, having finished runner-up six times (beaten by the United States in 1991 and by New Zealand in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017 and 2021). The Red Roses also won in 1994, defeating the U.S.

Saturday’s championship game is expected to shatter the previous record attendance for a women’s rugby test — 58,498 for England’s Six Nations match against France in April 2023 at Twickenham. 

A win and the Canadians will replace England atop the world rankings. Only England and New Zealand have enjoyed that perch since the rankings were introduced in February 2016.

A loss and the Canadians will remain No. 2.

No. 3 New Zealand faces No. 4 France in the third-place game earlier Saturday. The French lost 35-17 to England in the other semifinal.

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Canada’s run to Women’s World Cup final surprises some, but not Rugby Canada CEO

Canada stuns New Zealand, advances to first women’s Rugby World Cup final since 2014

Canada’s performance at the tournament has sparked such headlines as BBC’s “Fairytale Canada delivers seismic win over New Zealand,” CNN’s “Crowdfunded Canadian team stuns reigning champion New Zealand to reach Women’s Rugby World Cup final,” and ESPN’s “Canada crowdfunded their way to Women’s Rugby World Cup. Now they’re in the final.”

“I’m surprised that everyone’s so surprised,” Bombrys said in an interview. “I guess I’ve been around rugby long enough that people expect the establishment to prevail. We’ve known how special this team is for a while. But I guess until they prove it on Saturday, people will continue to be surprised.”

He believes the second-ranked Canadian women will earn more converts Saturday against top-ranked England before a sellout crowd of 82,000 at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium and a worldwide television audience. 

And while showing respect to England’s Red Roses, who have won 32 straight matches since losing 34-31 to host New Zealand in the final of the last World Cup in November 2022, Bombrys backs his players.

“Our team is here to win,” he said. “Maybe no one else thinks that but they’re here to win. And they’re going to put it out there Saturday.”

Bombrys also hopes to correct the mistaken view that the Canadian women made it to the tournament cap in hand — only after reaching some 95 per cent of the $1-million target of its “Mission: Win World Cup 2025” fundraising campaign. 

“That’s not true at all,” he said.

Bombrys met with Canada coach Kevin Rouet at last fall’s WXV tournament to go over World Cup prep. 

“He worked out a plan, given our circumstances, for what it would take to send the team well prepared,” said Bombrys. “And then we priced it up. As an organization we put $2.6 million behind the team — probably the most Rugby Canada’s ever put behind a team — but we identified a gap of a million bucks, so we said ‘OK, let’s go try to raise that money.’

“People laughed at me when I said ‘We’re going to raise a million bucks.””

Bombrys said he met with the team’s leadership group, asking them for their priorities.

“They gave me pretty clear instructions to go and fund those (pre-tournament) training camps, fund their preparation. That’s where they wanted the organization to focus. So that’s what we did.”

The money raised by the campaign was on top of Rugby Canada’s $2.6 million.

“The Canadian public had backed us, which is great,” said Bombrys.

The Canadian women are not getting rich off the tournament. Unlike England, whose players are on contract with the Rugby Football Union in addition to their club wages, the Canadians will earn a modest $12,000 “If they did everything this calendar year,” said Bombrys.

The Canadians have also picked up a “modest” bonus for making the final, with a bit extra to come if they win. 

Compare that to England players, who reportedly will each earn a 15,000-pound bonus ($28,030) if they win Saturday.

Most of the Canadian women play their club rugby in England and France, earning little more than room and board.

Bombrys hopes their success will attract sponsors.

“We’re a good investment,” he said. “This sport is growing … And I think the values of the sport are good and aligned with the values of Canada. That’s a phrase (star forward) Sophie (de Goede) uses and I agree with her.”

Values like showing respect to match officials and the opposition. 

“This is just the best example of when you support these outstanding young Canadians, look what they do. And that goes for the men, too,” Bombrys said.

The 24th-ranked Canadian men, who earn the same amount as the women from Rugby Canada, just qualified for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

Like the men’s World Cup, there is no prize money from World Rugby at the women’s tournament.

But the women can look forward to some high-profile matches next year with the advent of the WXV Global Series, which will feature the top 18 teams split into two tiers. Canada and the other top-12 teams will play between four and six fixtures annually within a new September-October test window.

The Canadian women, who will continue to take part in the Pacific Four Series in April-May, will tour Europe next September before hosting some games in October — possibly including a visit by England.

“These are all good games,” said Bombrys. “And the best thing is we’ll have some certainty for a few years so we can plan and the players can plan. And (have) some games in Canada. And hopefully we can showcase our team and generate some support that we need to keep this thing going.”

Actor Russell Crowe, meanwhile, has added his voice to that of Shania Twain and Prime Minister Mark Carney in a social media shootout to the Canadian women.

“Women’s Rugby World Cup? I’m with CANADA!” he tweeted to his 2.8 million followers.

Crowe is no stranger to rugby. He is part-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, a rugby league side that plays in Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL).

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