Canada vs. England: Women’s Rugby World Cup Final, Rouet Relies on Surprise

Canada Faces England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup Final

Canada coach Kevin Rouet is confident his players are ready for the biggest challenge as they face England in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final this Saturday. Canada will seek revenge after losing against the “Red Roses” in the previous World Cup semi-finals. Furthermore, they suffered a 21-12 defeat in the WXV1 tournament in Vancouver last October. Rouet acknowledges that his team is the “underdog” in the match at Twickenham, where England will seek to extend their streak of 32 consecutive victories and maintain the first place in the world ranking. Canada, currently in second place, arrives undefeated in 2025 and demonstrated its potential by defeating the defending champions, New Zealand, with an impressive 34-19 victory.

Coach Rouet commented: “I think we were very close in the last World Cup. We lost in the semi-finals against England and, although the statistics favored us, we didn’t achieve the result. We weren’t prepared for those high-pressure matches, but now the situation is different.”

“We have changed the way we play, and I think a year and a half ago I saw that we were going in the right direction. We have done many good things”.

Kevin Rouet

Rouet added: “Recently, we have only lost against them [England]. We played a good game in Canada [in 2024], but we didn’t specify the details. The key to success for us is to have more time together.” How to watch the Women’s Rugby World Cup final. Canada, which is semi-professional, had to resort to crowdfunding to cover almost a third of the budget for their World Cup campaign. They have overcome their opponents, leading Group B ahead of Scotland, Fiji and Wales, before defeating Australia and the Black Ferns in the knockout stages. England, who beat Canada to win the World Cup in 2014, but have lost five of the last six finals against New Zealand, has not yet reached its best form, despite advancing relatively easily. Rouet pointed out: “Each team has strengths and weaknesses, and we talk about it. We focus on ourselves, but we also show some weaknesses that England has and we hope that during the match we can put pressure on them and force them to resort to their plan B or whatever they need to win.” A crowd of approximately 82,000 people awaits Canada in southwest London. The attendance record for a women’s 15s match is 58,498. Rouet added: “We came here to win the World Cup, so we also have pressure because we want to win this match. But we love the pressure. Most of the stadium will be against us and that already makes us smile. We want the energy of the stadium.” Following England’s decision to keep the same starting XV and substitutes, Rouet has maintained confidence in the same 23 players who defeated the Black Ferns. This means that Canada will complete each round of the World Cup knockout stage with the same team led by inside center Alex Tessier. World Player of the Year nominee Sophie de Goede is present in the second row. “We decided to be consistent after a performance we were very happy with against New Zealand,” Rouet said.Canada XV to face England:

• McKinley Hunt
• Emily Tuttosi
• DaLeaka Menin
• Sophie de Goede
• Courtney O’Donnell
• Caroline Crossley
• Karen Paquin
• Fabiola Forteza
• Justine Pelletier
• Taylor Perry
• Asia Hogan-Rochester
• Alexandra Tessier
• Florence Symonds
• Alysha Corrigan
• Julia Schell

Substitutes: Gillian Boag, Brittany Kassil, Olivia DeMerchant, Tyson Beukeboom, Laetitia Royer, Gabrielle Senft, Olivia Apps, Shoshanah Seumanutafa.