London (AFP) – Canada underlined their status as one of the leading contenders for the Women’s Rugby World Cup by reaching the quarter-finals with a game to spare after a 42-0 thrashing of Wales. Saturday’s success in Salford saw Canada, ranked second in the world behind England, follow up their opening 65-7 Pool B hammering of Fiji with another emphatic win. By contrast, defeat left Wales on the brink of elimination after a surprisingly heavy 38-8 loss to Scotland in their first match of the tournament. Wales’ exit will be confirmed should Scotland get any match points from their game against Fiji later Saturday.
They made an encouraging start early on against Canada, but the match was over as a contest just after the half-hour mark with the North Americans 28-0 ahead thanks to McKinley Hunt’s two tries and one each for Alysha Corrigan and Asia Hogan-Rochester. Taylor Perry and Brittany Kassil crossed Wales’ try-line after half-time, when Georgia Evans was yellow-carded and Sophie de Goede converted all six tries.
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“I think we were very dominant in the set-piece, it was amazing to watch our girls dominate the scrums and the line-out was still strong for us,” Canada captain Alex Tessier told the BBC. “We knew what to expect (from Wales), we knew they were going to be physical, especially around those breakdowns which we didn’t react quickly enough, but we kept our composure and managed to score back-to-back tries.”
Wales, who were without injured co-captains Alex Callender and Kate Williams, did at least produce a better performance following a woeful display against Scotland, with coach Sean Lynn saying: “In the first 15 to 20 minutes we could see the physicality side of it, I saw improvements, and that’s what I wanted. When I went in at half-time I told the girls ‘just empty those tanks in the next 40 minutes’. The big thing for me was that in the last 15, 20 minutes there was a glimpse of what I want to see, being brave, moving the ball and getting individuals with the ball in hand.”
Saturday’s other games are in Pool A where tournament favourites England will look to book their place in the last eight against Samoa, despite making 13 changes to the starting 15 that walloped the United States 69-7. The Eagles, meanwhile, face an Australia team fresh from overwhelming Samoa 73-0.
© 2024 AFP
