{"id":137199,"date":"2025-09-12T07:52:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T07:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/137199\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T07:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T07:52:05","slug":"it-was-daunting-for-me-thinking-about-a-rugby-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/137199\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It was daunting for me thinking about a Rugby World Cup’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The sight of Florence Symonds<\/a>\u2019 slicked back hair, high ponytail and scrunchie has become a regular sight at the 2025 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So far, the 23-year-old has started in all three of Canada<\/a>\u2019s pool games as they booked a quarter-final match-up with Australia<\/a> this Saturday afternoon at Bristol\u2019s Ashton Gate Stadium.<\/p>\n

Already in her young career Symonds has achieved plenty. Last year she was a leading light on the pitch in Paris as Jack Hanratty\u2019s Canada<\/a> picked up an Olympic silver medal at the Stade de France and now is aiming for World Cup glory in the 15-a-side game.<\/p>\n

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Between her last 15s cap in 2023 and her first appearance for K\u00e9vin Rouet\u2019s side this year against the Black Ferns<\/a> in the Pacific Four Series<\/a>, there was a 20 month gap. It was only her fourth senior game of 15s ever.<\/p>\n

For a player that has so seamlessly fit into the backline of World Rugby\u2019s second-ranked side, it is almost difficult to imagine that it was not always in the centre\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought of myself as someone who would purely stick to sevens,\u201d Symonds said. \u201cI didn\u2019t ever really have that much (15s) experience coming into the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a little bit daunting for me thinking about a Rugby World Cup, which is something I never thought I would achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing off that (Olympic silver medal) \u2013 one of my biggest rugby goals that I had accomplished \u2013 I was asking \u2018what\u2019s next\u2019 really. I got this opportunity from K\u00e9vin and I just knew I had to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After she helped Canada to a second-ever rugby sevens Olympic medal at the Games, Symonds returned to university and got her first proper dose of regular 15-a-side rugby.<\/p>\n

Alongside her Canada 7s teammate, Charity Williams, the 23-year-old helped the University of British Columbia to their first-ever U SPORTS Women\u2019s Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

It was across that campaign that Rachel Smith<\/a> emerged as a bolter for Rouet\u2019s squad this early autumn. In many ways it was also a sign of how boundless Symonds\u2019 talents were as she flitted between sevens and her arts degree in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Then once the HSBC SVNS<\/a> season concluded, Symonds was thrust into a Rugby World Cup<\/a> proving chamber. Even with that added time on the pitch embedded in 15s, there was still an element of uncertainty as to how things were going to pan out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely felt like it was something that took me out of my comfort zone,\u201d Symonds said.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing back into a team with so much 15s experience was nerve-wracking. The team was amazing in letting me come in and just do my thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re so supportive. (Alex) Tessier<\/a> and Shoshanah<\/a> (Seumanutafa) taught me a lot, and I think they were excited for me to come on. It was honestly a pretty smooth transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those words of support from Tessier and Seumanutafa have certainly had an effect.<\/p>\n

From her first outing in Christchurch all the way back in May, Symonds\u2019 performances have grown and grown. This has included five tries \u2013 in World Cup warm-up matches against South Africa<\/a>, the USA<\/a> Women\u2019s Eagles and Ireland<\/a> \u2013 and a string of confident outings so far in England.<\/p>\n

Creating a formidable partnership with Canada captain Tessier, Symonds has stretched defenders and proven her defensive astuteness. Defence is something that the 23-year-old takes a lot of pride in. It is something she sees as her biggest strength. And it is embraced by her teammates.<\/p>\n

A trait that Rouet has installed throughout his Canucks outfit is the want to champion his players\u2019 individual traits. That is partially why the side have developed an unpredictable style of play and can count themselves as World Cup contenders in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing in this year has felt really different to the previous years,\u201d Symonds said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the build-up to the World cup our style of rugby has changed a lot, and we\u2019re really just empowering each other and individual players to use their skillset and use their strengths on the field.<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

Women’s Rugby World Cup<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Canada Women <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Australia Women <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the best thing coming in, maybe you haven\u2019t been with the 15s team all year, they\u2019re trusting me and backing me to make decisions as a rugby player.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, it\u2019s a lot of freedom and a lot of trust. That\u2019s what I love most about this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Symonds\u2019 arrival to the world stage is certainly different to most of her teammates. Born and raised to Canadian parents in Hong Kong, she first picked up a rugby ball aged seven with the Discovery Bay Pirates and quickly rose through the ranks.<\/p>\n

As a teenager she helped the Hong Kong<\/a> U20s sevens side to a gold medal in the Asian Series and represented the senior national side too.<\/p>\n

It was almost a surprise when she got a call as a teenager finishing high school asking if she wanted to pack her life up and centralise with the Canada sevens team.<\/p>\n

But it is the best decision Symonds has ever made.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just never thought it was achievable growing up and playing at a little club in Hong Kong,\u201d Symonds said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just hard to leave my family and all my friends back home, and that I would step away to live in a country where I didn\u2019t really know anybody at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m really happy I made that decision. It makes sense to me being here right now and I have so much pride representing Canada. I feel a lot of pride and I\u2019m very grateful and privileged to wear the maple leaf.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite dominating Pool B there are questions that surround the Canadians.<\/p>\n

After games against Scotland<\/a>, Wales<\/a> and Fiji<\/a>, the side had scored 147 points and conceded just 26 but did display flaws. In that trio of games, the Canadians gave the ball back to their opponents on 64 opponents and conceded 24 penalties.<\/p>\n

These mistakes ranged from personal errors to general miscalculation. Not exactly what you expect from World Rugby\u2019s second-ranked side.<\/p>\n

Now with the World Cup moving into the knockout stages, such high error rates will have to be quelled should the team want to achieve their ultimate aim of winning the tournament at Twickenham Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are definitely where we want to be right now,\u201d Symonds said. \u201cTo top a pool, that\u2019s the best we can do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think looking back, there are some moments that we\u2019re not so happy with. Maybe we are a little disappointed in some of our performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, this is where we are right now, and we know what we can accomplish. We\u2019re in a good headspace right now and we\u2019re just looking to keep it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend Symonds will start at outside centre against Australia<\/a> in the World Cup quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

The Wallaroos are familiar opponents. In May the 23-year-old started in Canada\u2019s 45-7 win in Brisbane to conclude their 2025 Pacific Four Series<\/a> campaign and rack up a seventh win in seven over the side from Down Under.<\/p>\n

Last weekend in Brighton, Jo Yapp\u2019s side showed a previously unseen steeliness for the evening quarter of their game against England\u2019s Red Roses<\/a> before they succumbed 47-7 to the tournament hosts.<\/p>\n

In much the same fashion they have done the entire tournament to date, Canada are looking to back up what has made them World Cup hopefuls.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is definitely interesting now that we\u2019re able to play a team where we have three back-to-back weekends of rugby that we can watch and analyse,\u201d Symonds said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know they\u2019re a strong team and we know they will bring a lot to the table. We just have to have confidence out there and play our Canadian way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sight of Florence Symonds\u2019 slicked back hair, high ponytail and scrunchie has become a regular sight at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-137199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}