Women’s sport in Canada has grown exponentially in the last few years.
One of the most brilliant teams on the world stage is Canada’s women’s rugby team, led by French head coach Kévin Rouet, who had his contract extended through 2030, Rugby Canada announced Thursday.
The World Cup silver medallists (15-player version) will be playing a pair of matches against England in Toronto (Friday Oct. 16) and Ottawa (Friday, Oct. 23).
The Red Roses are ranked No. 1 in the world and beat Canada in the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup final last year. The match in Toronto is expected to break the standalone attendance record for a North American rugby match.
The team boasts some of the most impressive players on the planet, including Canada’s captain and 2025 Rugby Player of the Year Sophie de Goede, and Olivia Apps, who was named Player of the Season by the Premiership Women’s Rugby.
Lizzie “Gibby” Gibson, 25, will be playing her first match with the team on Canadian soil.
Gibson said the loss against England has left hunger for Canada to prove it’s capable of being the world’s top-ranked team. Canada has never beaten England but recently tied them in the WXV Global Series in September, hosted in the United Kingdom.
“I know that these games mean so much to these players and so much to the new players too,” Gibson told CBC Sports. “They have that little bit of fire from that World Cup loss. I just want to add to that and be like, ‘I’m right here. I’m right with you.’ And I’m gonna do everything that I possibly can. Like putting my body on the line for you guys to do that.”
WATCH | Canadian women’s rugby has 2 cracks at top-ranked England:
Canada women’s rugby have two chances to take down England on home soil
Canada’s rugby women are ready to rematch. They have two chances on home soil to take down arch rival England coming up Oct. 16 & Oct. 23. Players Taylor Perry & Lizzie Gibson joined us in studio to talk team, tactics and takedowns.
Gibson, who hails from Caledon, Ont., and plays back row and was named to the senior women’s team in 2026.
She is no stranger to winning and has been a stalwart on the Queen’s University Gaels team. She has been honoured multiple times by Queen’s University as Athlete of the Year, and was named the U Sports Player of the Year in 2022. Gibson holds the record for all-time leading scorer in U Sports with 571 career points.
U Sports plays a pivotal role in the development of the top rugby players in the world. Canada does not have a professional rugby union, leaving many of the best players to move to Europe.
Taylor Perry, 26, of Oakville also played at Queen’s University. Perry plays fly-half with the 15s and the 7s and has represented Canada at the biggest competitions in the world.
Perry explained that U Sports has a unique and direct pipeline to the national program — unlike any other sport where the best athletes in the country go south to the United States to compete in the NCAA.
She said that after the Gaels’ 2021 U Sports national championship win, head coach Dan Valley suggested they should play a top team in the NCAA; Harvard University and Dartmouth College are two of the top teams in DI and boast Canadian talent.
“I feel like they talk up the NCAA so much like it’s such a high level,” she said. “But it’s like if we just could have one match with our top team versus your top team, that would not be a conversation anymore. It would be very, very good for Canadian teams to get more players from the States up here, and also keep our Canadians here.”
Perry is grateful she didn’t have to leave her home province to play during university but is currently playing professionally in England with the Exeter Chiefs. These two matches on home soil are incredibly important for the team, which has overcome tremendous adversity, and remained successful despite challenges — including the resignation of the sevens program head coach in 2021 that included allegations of maltreatment.
Many of the players play on both the sevens and 15-player teams. The team also faces funding challenges and worked hard to build up support ahead of the World Cup, including a stint on Dragon’s Den. Spoiler: the “Dragons” decided not to fund them.
WATCH | How much are Canadian women’s rugby players paid?:
England’s budget for its senior women’s program is around $20 million, whereas Canada’s is $3 million. The Red Roses possess an active unbeaten run of 41 matches — all wins with the exception of the draw against Canada — and an impressive 70-1-1 record dating back to 2019.
Canada’s profile has grown immensely in the last few years after a sevens silver-medal result at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the subsequent World Cup. But the team isn’t satisfied with second.
‘Driven to be the best in the world’
Nathan Bombrys is the CEO of Rugby Canada. He told me that previous iterations of the senior team always had talent and drive, but what makes this one different is their belief in possibility.
“This team is driven to be the best in the world,” he said in a phone call. “That’s their measurement.”
The team was featured in a four-part documentary series on Crave TV directed by Vancouver-based filmmaker Kat Jayme called ALL HEART: A RUGBY STORY.
The series pulls back the curtain on one of the country’s most likeable teams, and shows its vulnerability and their personalities in a sincere way.
It highlights their humour and grit but also how they manage injuries, stress, mental health battles and grieve losses in pursuit of top spot in the world. Bombrys says we see how tough the World Cup heartbreak is on them but their passion and focus remains impressive. He says now there is the recognition that “Canada comes to play.”
The gap is in wider support from the country. We know that people love women’s sports.
A 2025 report from Canadian Women & Sport detailed how Canada’s professional women’s sports market has doubled in size since 2023, reaching an estimated $380–400 million in 2025 and is on target to hit $570 million by 2030.
More rugby at home
Rugby doesn’t have a professional league in Canada, so attending matches, watching the games and supporting the team and the players on social media helps the momentum. If beating England to claim top spot is the goal, then having a professional league at home is the dream.
“That’s like the sole dream right now — to be able to stay here,” Perry said. “I’m sure it’s my husband’s dream too. It’d be so nice to be able to not have to go anywhere and just get the same amount of rugby here. And I know that it’d be a good level of rugby as well if we could just get the means and resources together to be able to do it.”
Bombrys said while there is no doubt that Canada is a fierce competitor, the country is not seen globally as a rugby nation. “I was chatting with a COO from a different country and trying to organize a few matches ahead of the tournament,” Bombrys said. “I asked if our teams could play.”
The response surprised him.
The COO (whose name he did not disclose) said, “I don’t mean to disrespect but Canada will not fill my stadium.”
That is another opponent we need to combat, and this country needs to respond.
How fans show up matters to the team, and to the future of rugby in this country. Perry says she has a group of 60 supporters that are planning to attend. “I have family members that weren’t even at my wedding who are like ‘I have to do this game,’” she laughed.
Gibson says her entire village of Cheltenham will be there on Saturday.
“It literally feels like poetry in motion,” she said. “Sometimes we’ll have practices where everyone feels it. Well, we are world class athletes, but it feels like ‘wow, these are the best rugby players in the world’. We’ll have practices where it’s like click, click, click, boom! It’s like we’re reading each other’s minds before it happens.
“Rugby is such an imperfect game. But to have those little moments throughout the game, it’s really beautiful to be a part of. It’s a beautiful thing to watch, and I think that is what makes rugby so exciting,” Gibson added.
The calibre of the team is obvious and its chemistry is remarkable. The players are honest and driven, and beautifully imperfect.
Supporting Olympic and national teams between major tournaments was a call to action a long time ago. The team has the ability, the grit and the belief to succeed, and now Canadians from coast to coast must do their part.