Friday, August 1, 2025 (Ottawa, ON) \u2014 Canada\u2019s Women\u2019s Rugby Team put together a dominant second-half performance to defeat the United States 42\u201310 in front of a record-setting crowd at TD Place Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The victory \u2014 Canada\u2019s 11th straight against their longtime rivals \u2014 came in their final home appearance before departing for the United Kingdom and was played in front of 11,453 fans, setting a new record for a standalone women\u2019s rugby match in North America.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After trailing early and facing a 10\u20137 deficit late in the first half, Canada roared back with 35 unanswered points in front of the vocal Ottawa crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stayed composed and stuck to our plan,\u201d said captain Alex Tessier post-match. \u201cWe came out strong in the second half and finished the job well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
USA struck first in the 2nd minute, marching down the field on the opening possession and scoring through No. 8 Freda Tafuna, with the conversion making it 7\u20130. Canada absorbed the early pressure and began to build momentum, even while playing down a player after Sophie de Goede was shown yellow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their breakthrough came in the 27th minute via a penalty try, awarded after a powerful Canadian maul was illegally stopped by USA\u2019s Hallie Taufo\u2019ou, who was also sent to the sin bin. Though USA briefly regained the lead through a penalty goal, Canada struck again just before the break: McKinley Hunt powered over from close range, with de Goede adding the extras to send the hosts into halftime up 14\u201310.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just two minutes into the second half, Gabrielle Senft finished off a clinical lineout drive. Then came several phases of pressure that ended with Olivia DeMerchant crashing over in the 63rd minute \u2014 just moments after checking into the match to mark her milestone 60th appearance for the national side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Less than two minutes later, flanker Karen Paquin ignited the crowd with a 30-metre burst that led to Florence Symonds finishing a well-worked try. Canada\u2019s dominance in the forwards was capped off by Mikiela Nelson in the 74th minute, who dotted down after a long-distance rolling maul.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Conversions were shared between Sophie de Goede \u2014 perfect on four attempts \u2014 and Julia Schell, who added the final conversion to seal the 42\u201310 result.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started slower than we wanted to, but it was a good wakeup call,\u201d said DaLeaka Menin, named NFP Player of the Match. \u201cYou don\u2019t always get the first try \u2014 and I think we showed we can come back from that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided to just battle it out, and it really showed \u2014\u00a0especially closer to the end of the first half \u2014\u00a0that we were dominant. From there, we took it away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
BY THE NUMBERS\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nCanada scored six tries from six different scorers (including the penalty try)\u00a0
\n35 unanswered points were scored after trailing 10\u20137 late in the first half\u00a0
\nCanada led the linebreak count 11\u20134\u00a0
\nA record 11,453 fans were in attendance \u2014 the largest crowd ever for a standalone women\u2019s rugby match in North America\u00a0
<\/p>\n
CANADA SCORING SUMMARY \u00a0
Tries: Penalty Try (27\u2019), McKinley Hunt (40\u2019), Gabrielle Senft (43\u2019), Olivia DeMerchant (63\u2019), Florence Symonds (65\u2019), Mikiela Nelson (74\u2019)\u00a0\u00a0
Conversions: Sophie de Goede 4 (40\u2019, 44\u2019, 64\u2019, 66\u2019), Julia Schell (75\u2019)\u00a0<\/p>\n
UP NEXT FOR CANADA\u2019S WOMEN\u2019S RUGBY TEAM \u00a0
Canada\u2019s final warm up match before the Rugby World Cup will be against Ireland on Saturday August 9 at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Kick-off is scheduled for 12:00pm local time (4:00am PT \/ 7:00am) and will be available on TSN and TSN+.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the Rugby World Cup in England, Canada will compete in Pool B alongside Scotland, Wales and Fiji. Their first match will be against Fiji at the York Community Stadium in York on Saturday, August 23 at 9:30am PT \/ 12:30pm ET (5:30pm local time). Click here for the full Pool B schedule.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
CANADA\u2019S WOMEN\u2019S RUGBY TEAM MATCH DAY ROSTER VS USA\u00a0\u00a0
1. McKinley Hunt (King City, ON) \u2013 Aurora Barbarians \/ Saracens\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
2. Gillian Boag (Calgary, AB) \u2013 Capilano RFC\u00a0\u00a0
3. DaLeaka Menin (Vulcan, AB) \u2013 Calgary Hornets \/ Exeter Chiefs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
4. Sophie de Goede (Victoria, BC) – Castaway Wanderers \/ Saracens\u00a0\u00a0
5. Tyson Beukeboom (Uxbridge, ON) \u2013 Cowichan Piggies \/ Aurora Barbarians \/ Ealing Trailfinders\u00a0\u00a0
6. Karen Paquin (Quebec City, QC) – Club de rugby de Quebec\u00a0\u00a0
7. Fabiola Forteza (Quebec City, QC) \u2013 Club de rugby de Qu\u00e9bec \/ Stade Bordelais\u00a0\u00a0
8. Gabrielle Senft (Regina, SK) \u2013 Castaway Wanderers \/ Saracens\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
9. Olivia Apps (Lindsay, ON) \u2013 Lindsay RFC\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
10. Claire Gallagher (Caledon, ON) \u2013 Aurora Barbarians \/ Leicester Tigers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
11. Paige Farries (Red Deer, AB) \u2013 Saracens\u00a0\u00a0
12.\u00a0Alexandra Tessier (Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, QC) \u2013 Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue RFC \/ Exeter Chiefs\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
13. Florence Symonds (Vancouver, BC) – University of British Columbia\u00a0\u00a0
14. Fancy Bermudez (Edmonton, AB) \u2013 Nor\u2019Westers Athletic Association \/ Westshore RFC \/ Saracens\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
15. Julia Schell (Uxbridge, ON) \u2013 Guelph Goats \/ Castaway Wanderers \/ Ealing Trailfinders\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
FINISHERS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
16. Taylor McKnight (Stouffville, ON) – University of Guelph \/ Aurora Barbarians\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
17. Mikiela Nelson (North Vancouver, BC) \u2013 Capilano RFC \/ Exeter Chiefs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
18. Olivia DeMerchant (Mapledale, NB) – Halifax Tars RFC\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
19. Courtney O’Donnell (Rimbey, AB) \u2013 Red Deer Titans Rugby\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
20. Pamphinette Buisa (Gatineau, QC) – Ottawa Irish\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
21. Justine Pelletier (Rivi\u00e8re-du-Loup, QC) \u2013 Club de rugby de Qu\u00e9bec\u202f\/ Stade Bordelais\u00a0\u00a0
22. Shoshanah Seumanutafa (White Rock, BC) \u2013 Counties Manukau\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
23. Caroline Crossley (Victoria, BC) \u2013\u00a0Castaway Wanderers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
MISSION: WIN RUGBY WORLD CUP\u00a0\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<\/p>\n
The mission is now within reach: over 88% of the fundraising goal has been pledged through generous individual donations and crowdfunding. Rugby Canada extends its deep appreciation to all MWRWC supporters in embarking on a final push of this campaign for the team\u2019s Rugby World Cup journey. For more information or to donate, visit rugby.ca\/donate.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday, August 1, 2025 (Ottawa, ON) \u2014 Canada\u2019s Women\u2019s Rugby Team put together a dominant second-half performance to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-39294","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\/39294","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=39294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}