On Saturday, Canada has the chance to etch its name in the record books and win its first-ever Women’s Rugby World Cup as they take on hosts England at Twickenham.
After an undefeated run to the final, punctuated by a thorough beating of six-time champions New Zealand, Canada now faces a nation that has historically mastered the Maple Leafs.
You can catch Canada vs. England in the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup Final LIVE on Saturday with coverage getting underway at 10 a.m. ET/ 7 a.m. PT on TSN1/4, the TSN App, and TSN.ca.
The rivalry between Canada and England has been as one-sided as they come. In the 32 years since their first game against Canada, the Red Roses are 33-3-1 and have outscored Canada 1,192 to 432 in the contests. Canada has lost 13 straight games against England, with their last win coming in 2016.
But will this time be different? Canadian rugby great and TSN analyst Magali Harvey thinks it might, but it’s not going to be easy.
“I think that a few things are against Canada,” Harvey explains. “The first one is the fact that because they won against New Zealand, everybody is hyping Canada up. There’s a huge mental pressure. I hope they were able to reset properly and move on from New Zealand and just solely focus on England because sometimes it can be emotionally exhausting to beat the equivalent of a Goliath…the other one is also mental – against England, many times Canada does not play like Canada. It’s like they over-respect the opposition and don’t make the same decisions they usually do against other teams.”
Still, it’s what she saw against the Black Ferns that makes Harvey believe that won’t happen on Saturday.
“In saying this, they did the same thing with New Zealand in the past, but this time they were able to mentally see them as any other team,” she says. “So, it’s a good signal for being able to move on and just see England as a team and not a team that needs to be overly respected.”
It was England who eliminated Canada from the last World Cup at the semi-final stage, defeating the Maple Leafs in Auckland by a score of 26-19. It was one of the closer losses Canada has had against the Red Roses. Harvey says Canada became too reliant on individual players and failed to unite as a squad.
“It feels like with this World Cup, every player trusts everybody else and plays what’s in front of them and trusts everyone to play what’s in front of them,” Harvey says. “It makes a huge difference, and it really helps increase the tempo of the game. It also helps that the three-year buildup was with the same coach that has kept the same strategy because at times in the past, the Canadian team would adopt a strategy based on who they were playing. This time around, Canada has stuck to the same strategy from the beginning to now, which means they’ve just gotten better and better at implementing the strategy they’ve just kept reworking throughout the World Cup.”
Canada has managed to overwhelm its opposition by controlling the tempo through a kind of positionless rugby. Ruck speed – how quickly the ball can be recycled after a tackle – is the name of the game and it’s something nobody does better than the Maple Leafs right now.
“Before we talk about ruck speed, it’s important to understand that irrelevant of the position of the player, everyone has a green light to play what’s in front of them,” Harvey says of Canada’s tactics. “So, whenever a prop needs to be a scrum-half, which is a defensive position, do it. What that means is you’re not waiting on someone to go move the ball. If you’re first come, you move it. This increases the ruck speed and then Canada just relies on this very fast pace. The fact that it’s ruck speed, the defence is always on the back foot. They’re not able to slow it down enough to challenge the rucks and it’s really tiring on the defence…eventually mistakes happen, teams get penalized or they over-pursue or they over-commit and it creates an advantage for Canada because the opposition is just not able to keep up.”
The Red Roses, on the other hand, play a game of finesse across the board.
“England is a very technical team,” Harvey says. “They have a strategy, and they execute it very well. When I say I technical, I mean the kicks are very accurate, they have very strong individual players and they’re very good at mauls, breakdowns, lineups – all the key components to winning and maintaining the ball.”
What could be a great help for Canada on Saturday is their familiarity with their opponents. Sixteen of Canada’s 32 players, including back row Sophie de Goede, fly-half Julia Schell and captain Alex Tessier, play their club rugby in England.
“England is the hub for every woman who wants to play professional rugby and so you get exposed to the best players in the world,” Harvey says. “And suddenly, what feels like a monster on the other side of the pitch is just your teammate. You recognize patterns and this big monster turns into, ‘Okay, they’re human.’ I think it’s really good for the mental fortitude of the Canadians to play amongst them because they just see them as teammates, friends and not somebody that’s unbeatable.”
And while England might have the advantage of playing in front of home fans, that is not without its downside.
“Quite frankly, I think there’s more pressure on England to win,” Harvey says. “Like they are supposed to be No. 1. They have the professional team. They have full-time contracts. Everyone treats Canada like underdogs. I think the pressure for Canada is to continue that momentum because they displayed such quality rugby. I think their pride – and of course they want to win – will being able to execute in such a critical game.”
So, how does Canada win?
“By playing like Canada, or how they played the last game,” Harvey says. “This team plays a fast-tempo game. With the fastest rucks, it’s really hard to stop them and forces defensive errors. If they’re able to maintain possession, play fast-paced rugby and then rely on fatiguing the opposition by maintaining possession, you’re getting the opposition tired, then I think they can win it.
“That, and defensively, I think they have to come out and shut down the space. England have some of the best backs in the world and they’re very technical, again, where England will kick, unlike New Zealand who would not really kick. So, it’ll be about covering the entire surface to make sure there are no holes.”
To win their first World Cup, Canada will have to do something nobody else has been able to since the 2021 World Cup Final – beat England. The Red Roses have not lost since that defeat against New Zealand and head into Saturday’s match on a streak of 32 wins.
But Canada is on a run of their own, undefeated in 2025 and outscoring opponents to the tune of 497 to 159 over the 12 matches. If anybody can threaten England’s dominance right now, it’s the team that just took down the two-time defending World Cup champions.