For anyone who might be thinking champions New Zealand are a shoo-in to make the Rugby World Cup final, Canada have three key attributes to suggest they can knock out the Black Ferns in their semi-final on Friday evening: Belief, fast ruck speed and Sophie de Goede.<\/p>\n
Canada are the world No 2 side and came close to beating England at the 2024 WXV 1, yet have gone under the radar in the buildup to this tournament and during its early stages, with much of the attention focused on the potential for a rematch of the 2022 final between New Zealand and hosts England<\/a>. Against the Black Ferns in the last four at Ashton Gate, Canada will still be viewed as underdogs in some circles, something the team have spoken about a lot, according to the wing Alysha Corrigan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is something that isn\u2019t new for us, we are usually seen as that underdog and not always getting that recognition we think we deserve,\u201d says Corrigan. \u201cI think that is something that fuels our fire.\u201d<\/p>\n The self-belief is understandable, stemming from recent results between the semi-final opponents. Canada beat New Zealand for the first time at the 2024 Pacific Four tournament and the last time the two teams met at the 2025 Pac Four they drew 27-27.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time we beat them that pushed us, it gave us a huge boost of confidence,\u201d says Canada\u2019s captain, Alex Tessier. \u201cDrawing against them confirmed where we are at, that we have been growing. We have grown after each game.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018The first time we beat them that pushed us, it gave us a huge boost of confidence.\u2019 The Canada captain Alex Tessier says her side have the self-belief to beat New Zealand. Photograph: Andrew Matthews\/PA<\/p>\n For their part, the champions are wary; the most-capped Black Fern in history, the former scrum-half, Kendra Cocksedge, highlighed K\u00e9vin Rouet\u2019s team as one to cause them problems.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe they are our bogey team at the moment to be honest.\u201d Cocksedge says. \u201cAs soon as you beat the black jersey your tail\u2019s up and you give them confidence. They are playing with that, they are ones we seriously need to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n An element of Canada\u2019s game which could unlock their opponent\u2019s impressive defence is their fast ruck speed. They had the fastest average of any team throughout the pool stage, with 79% in less than three seconds against Scotland in their final and most competitive pool match<\/a>. They did not slow down in their quarter-final<\/a> either and if defences are a split second too slow to react, Canada will score \u2013 the tally is 30 tries across their four games so far this tournament.<\/p>\n Then we come to the third reason, De Goede. One of the tournament\u2019s best players, her performances are all the more impressive given the context that the semi-final will be only her eighth game since recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.<\/p>\n Rouet has described De Goede as the \u201ccherry on the cake\u201d for Canada, coming into her prime at the right time. The former captain\u2019s statistics back up the hype around her all-action game \u2013 two tries, 17 conversions as the team\u2019s goalkicker, successful completion of 47 tackles out of an attempted 50 and four turnovers won.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week’s action reviewed<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Canada will have to find a way to quiet New Zealand\u2019s Braxton Sorensen-McGee, the tournament\u2019s current top points and try-scorer. Photograph: Alastair Grant\/AP<\/p>\n