The Canadian selection is preparing for the deafening atmosphere that will be experienced in the final of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup against England at Twickenham. To do this, they have implemented an unusual strategy: training with headphones. Approximately 82,000 fanatics will gather in the stadium, breaking the attendance record for a women’s rugby match. The majority of the fans will be supporting the English “Red Roses”, while Canada, currently in second place in the world ranking, will seek to spring a surprise.
Experience in Crowds
Asia Hogan-Rochester, one of Canada’s players, has experience playing in front of large crowds, having represented her country at the Paris Olympics last year, where 66,000 people witnessed the opening day of women’s rugby sevens.
“There’s also the element of local fans. We did a very good training exercise of just putting on headphones so we wouldn’t hear each other and really focus on communication. We’re a team that reads each other’s minds when we play, so I’m very excited about that. We’re focused.” The attendance record for a women’s rugby 15s match is 58,498, set when England secured the 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam by defeating France 38-33 at Twickenham. In the training session, the Canadian team initially used ambient noise from a soccer match. However, due to synchronization issues, a large speaker was used, keeping the headphones to hinder communication.“I feel like after a certain amount of thousands, it’s all noise and you can’t hear yourself,” commented Hogan-Rochester, 26.
Asia Hogan-Rochester
Coach’s Strategy
The head coach, Kevin Rouet, explained that the goal was for the players to get used to the noise and not being able to hear each other, knowing that it would be an important factor in the match. The aim was also to change the dynamics of the training, make it more fun and release the pressure. “It was just an idea. Whether it works or not, we’ll never know,” Rouet stated.
