Saturday, September 13, 2025 (Bristol, England) \u2014 Canada\u2019s Women\u2019s Rugby Team powered into the Rugby World Cup semi-finals in Bristol with a 46\u20135 victory over Australia, extending their perfect all-time record against the Wallaroos to 8\u20130.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s No. 2-ranked side ran in seven tries, with Alysha Corrigan scoring twice and Sophie de Goede turning in another performance that earned her the Mastercard Player of the Match honours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First-half statement\u00a0<\/p>\n
Canada wasted little time in stamping their authority on the match. Just two minutes in, Asia Hogan-Rochester raced down the left wing to open the scoring. While Australia answered soon after through Desiree Miller, Canada seized back momentum with a dazzling 10-minute stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alysha Corrigan finished brilliantly on the right flank to restore the lead, before de Goede picked up and powered over from close range. Corrigan added her second try shortly after, finishing off the play after stretching the Australia defense thin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McKinley Hunt then crossed following a driving maul just before halftime to give Canada a 31\u20135 advantage at the break. The Canadians dominated every metric in the opening 40 minutes, carrying for more than 500 metres and beating three times as many defenders as their opponents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Composure in the wet\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heavy rain greeted the teams after the interval, slowing the tempo of play, but Canada stayed composed. Fabiola Forteza\u2019s powerful solo effort off a stolen line-out extended the lead in the 50th minute, before captain Alex Tessier calmly slotted a late penalty to wind down the clock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Veteran Karen Paquin added a flourish in the dying moments, bursting through the line for a 20-metre score that underlined Canada\u2019s dominance and delighted the travelling Canadian supporters at Ashton Gate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Canada, now unbeaten through four matches at the Rugby World Cup and yet to trail at any point throughout the tournament, will face reigning champions New Zealand in the semi-finals on Friday night in Bristol. The Black Ferns advanced with a 46\u201317 win over South Africa in their quarter-final.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the numbers\u00a0
Canada dictated play over the Wallaroos across the board, carrying for 754 metres compared to 289, beating 49 defenders to Australia\u2019s 17, and offloading 17 times to the Wallaroos\u2019 single offload. Defensively, Canada completed 87% of their tackles, with Australia managing 75%. De Goede\u2019s stat line was once again emblematic of her influence: one try, four conversions, and a team-high 78 metres carried.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What they said\u00a0<\/p>\n
Player of the Match Sophie de Goede praised her team\u2019s versatility:\u00a0
\u201cIt\u2019s incredible. We’re just rolling. We\u2019ve checked off every job we\u2019ve wanted to do so far, and this is another ticked box. Real credit to Australia, it was a tough game. You could\u2019ve given the Player of the Match to so many players out there, and to the impact subs that finished the game incredibly. That\u2019s what makes us a great team, it\u2019s our versatility and adaptability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Captain Alex Tessier emphasized the importance of Canada\u2019s fast start:\u00a0
\u201cWe looked right away from the get-go to impose our tempo, and I think we managed to do that very well in the first half. We managed to put up a lot of points early, and it was a good start for us. We\u2019re proud of what we\u2019ve done today, but now it\u2019s about switching our mindset to the semi-final. It\u2019s a quick turnaround, so we\u2019ll recover, reassess, and get ready for Friday.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Head Coach Kevin Rouet lauded his team\u2019s performance, especially the opening 40 minutes:\u00a0
\u201cI would say the first half was the best we\u2019ve played at this World Cup. Not a lot of mistakes, a lot of success in the way we want to play the game. I\u2019m very happy for the girls. We are confident heading into the semi-final. It\u2019s going to be a tight game for sure, but we hope to win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
CANADA SCORING SUMMARY \u00a0
Tries: Asia Hogan-Rochester (2′), Alysha Corrigan (14′, 20′), Sophie de Goede (17′), McKinley Hunt (38′), Fabiola Forteza (50′), Karen Paquin (77′)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Conversions: Sophie de Goede (4)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Penalty Goals: Alex Tessier (72′)\u00a0<\/p>\n
NEXT UP FOR CANADA\u00a0 CANADA\u2019S WOMEN\u2019S RUGBY TEAM MATCH DAY ROSTER VS AUSTRALIA\u00a0
Canada\u2019s semi-final match against New Zealand will be played on Friday, September 19 at 11:00am PT \/ 2:00pm ET (7:00pm local time in England). The match schedule for the Rugby World Cup can be found here<\/a>.\u00a0
\u00a0
The Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham next month is sold out with 82,000 fans, making it the most attended women\u2019s rugby union match ever. Over 400,000 tickets have been sold across all matches so far \u2014 three times more than the 2021 World Cup in New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1. McKinley Hunt (King City, ON) \u2013 Aurora Barbarians \/ Saracens (35 caps)\u00a0
2. Emily Tuttosi (Souris, MB) – Calgary Hornets \/ Exeter Chiefs (38 caps)\u00a0
3. DaLeaka Menin (Vulcan, AB) \u2013 Calgary Hornets \/ Exeter Chiefs (66 caps)\u00a0
4. Sophie de Goede (Victoria, BC) – Castaway Wanderers \/ Saracens (38 caps)\u00a0
5. Courtney O’Donnell (Rimbey, AB) \u2013 Red Deer Titans Rugby (50 caps)\u00a0 \u00a0
6. Caroline Crossley (Victoria, BC) – Castaway Wanderers (10 caps)\u00a0
7. Karen Paquin (Quebec City, QC) – Club de rugby de Quebec (48 caps)\u00a0
8. Fabiola Forteza (Quebec City, QC) \u2013 Club de rugby de Qu\u00e9bec \/ Stade Bordelais (38 caps)\u00a0
9. Justine Pelletier (Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup, QC) \u2013 Club de rugby de Qu\u00e9bec\u202f\/ Stade Bordelais (40 caps)\u00a0
10. Taylor Perry (Oakville, ON) – Oakville Crusaders \/ Exeter Chiefs (20 caps)\u00a0
11. Asia Hogan-Rochester (Toronto, ON) – Toronto Nomads \/ Westshore RFC (5 caps) \u00a0
12. Alexandra Tessier (Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, QC) \u2013 Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue RFC \/ Exeter Chiefs (63 caps)\u00a0
13. Florence Symonds (Vancouver, BC) – University of British Columbia (15 caps)\u00a0
14. Alysha Corrigan (Charlottetown, PEI) – CRFC \/ Saracens (23 caps)\u00a0
15. Julia Schell (Uxbridge, ON) \u2013 Guelph Goats \/ Castaway Wanderers \/ Ealing Trailfinders (29 caps)\u00a0
\u00a0
FINISHERS \u00a0
16. Gillian Boag (Calgary, AB) \u2013 Capilano RFC (36 caps)\u00a0
17. Brittany Kassil (Guelph, ON) \u2013 Guelph Goats (50 caps)\u00a0 \u00a0
18. Olivia DeMerchant (Mapledale, NB) – Halifax Tars RFC (63 caps)\u00a0 \u00a0
19. Tyson Beukeboom (Uxbridge, ON) \u2013 Cowichan Piggies \/ Aurora Barbarians \/ Ealing Trailfinders (81 caps)\u00a0
20. Laetitia Royer (Loretteville, QC) \u2013 St-Anne-de-Bellevue \/ Concordia University \/ Saracens (19 caps)\u00a0
21. Gabrielle Senft (Regina, SK) \u2013 Castaway Wanderers \/ Saracens (37 caps)\u00a0
22. Olivia Apps (Lindsay, ON) \u2013 Lindsay RFC (22 caps)\u00a0
23. Shoshanah Seumanutafa (White Rock, BC) \u2013 Counties Manukau (22 caps)\u00a0
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MISSION: WIN RUGBY WORLD CUP\u00a0 \u00a0
In March 2025, Rugby Canada officially launched the Mission: Win Rugby World Cup (MWRWC) 2025 fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $1,000,000. Despite rising to the second world ranking, the Canadian women\u2019s rugby team operates on a fractional budget compared to its closest competitors. This $1 million gap was identified to best equip the team with extra resources to help them make history.\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
The mission is now within reach: over 95% of the fundraising goal has been pledged through generous individual donations and crowd funding. Rugby Canada extends its deep appreciation to all MWRWC supporters. For more information or to donate, visit rugby.ca\/donate.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saturday, September 13, 2025 (Bristol, England) \u2014 Canada\u2019s Women\u2019s Rugby Team powered into the Rugby World Cup semi-finals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-141306","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\/141306","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=141306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}