VANCOUVER — Canada's women's rugby team has its sights firmly set on the future, even as it gets the rare opportunity to compete on home soil.
The squad opened its WXV 1 tournament in Vancouver with a dominant 46-24 victory over France on Sunday — a result that captain Tyson Beukeboom said is a good first step toward the team's ultimate goal.
“Our goal is to win World Cup, and that starts now," she said. "But not everything's gonna go perfectly right now. It'd be great if it does. But we're here to build. We're here to get better and be prepared when we do get to that World Cup final.”
The world No. 3 Canadians were quick to establish themselves against fourth-ranked France, with Paige Farries scoring the first try of the afternoon in the fourth minute.
France replied minutes later, but the home side showed resilience, continuously battling back to retake the lead. Canada never trailed in the game.
“I think it was one of our best collective efforts," said right wing Fancy Bermudez, who contributed a pair of tries. "We knew we could go into that game and win and it felt like we had confidence going into that game. Coming out with a win like that is huge for us, and a huge way to start the World Cup campaign.”
Laetitia Royer also scored two tries for Canada, while Emily Tuttosi and Asia Hogan-Rochester each added one. Alex Tessier booted four conversions and a penalty kick.
France got tries from Melissande Llorens, Marine Menager, Pauline Bourdon and Nassira Konde, and two conversions from Chloe Jacquet.
The visiting side didn't show what they were capable of, especially on defence, said captain Manae Feleu.
“We didn't come into the game thinking that it was going to be easy at all. We knew it was going to be tough," she said. "I think it's more about us. And we need to reflect on that and on our performance.”
Canada took a 24-14 cushion into the locker room, but France began to close the gap in the 47th minute.
Bourdon slipped through the Canadian line and dashed in to touch before Bermudez could haul her down with a flying tackle. The try cut the lead to 24-19.
“We can never under underestimate a team like France. And we knew they wanted blood from last WXV when we beat them," said Bermudez, a member of the Canadian women's sevens squad that won silver at the Paris Olympics in July.
"We just knew that we had to stick to our game plan, stick to what we're good at, and if they score one, then we know we have to get two. And I think we did a good job of just keeping our heads in the game.”
The home side replied five minutes later out of a scrum. Justine Pelletier got the ball but was taken down just ahead of the goal line. Royer came up with it and muscled it in for Canada's fifth try of the day. Two points from Tessier made it 31-19 for the Canadians, who continued to build their lead.
“I think our hope was to come out strong and put down a fast game and play to space, and play to the space we were given, whether that was close to the ruck, far to the ruck, behind them," Beukeboom said. "And I'm just proud that we were able to do that.”
Earlier on Sunday, No. 1 England thumped the eighth-ranked U.S. 61-21 in the first game of the tournament.
In the final game of the day, No. 7 Ireland upset second-ranked New Zealand 29-27 thanks to a 79th-minute try by Erin King.
The tournament will shift to Langley, B.C., next weekend, where Canada will take on Ireland on Saturday following a matchup between the U.S. and France. Sunday will see New Zealand battle England.
Play will return to Vancouver on Oct. 11 with the Americans squaring off against the Irish. The tournament will wrap on Oct. 12 with New Zealand playing France and Canada coming up against England.
Now in its second year, the WXV is a three-tiered tournament, with teams in the top division coming from the top three finishers in the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand and the United States) and Women's Six Nations Championship (England, France and Ireland).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2024.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
