After defeating France to open WXV 1, Canada's women's rugby team defeated Ireland 21-8 in their second match of the tournament at Willoughby Stadium, Langley Events Centre.
October 5, 2024 (Langley, BC) – After defeating France to open WXV 1, Canada's women's rugby team defeated Ireland 21-8 in their second match of the tournament at Willoughby Stadium.
Depending on the English Red Roses' result against the New Zealand Black Ferns on Sunday, October 6, a Canadian victory sets the stage for next weekend's WXV 1 title clash between the hosts and world number one England. Regardless, the WXV 1 final on October 12 will see two of the best women's rugby teams in the world, Canada and England, meet for the first time since September 2023.
“The next match will be against England, the best team in the world,” said head coach Kevin Root. After two games, with two wins, we are where we want to be to win WXV next week. We rotated the lineup a few times and used a lot of players today, so it was really fun to see some great performances from a lot of players.
The first 20 minutes of the match between Canada and Ireland remained scoreless, with both teams showing strong defense to prevent the other team from scoring. Canadian Alex Tessier opened the scoring in the 19th minute but was held up by a tackle on the Irish goal line.
In the 25th minute, an Irish player was yellow carded for a deliberate kick-in five meters from her goal line. On the ensuing sideline, a Canadian maul ultimately led to a penalty try and a second yellow card against Ireland, with the hosts leading 7–0.
Seven minutes later, Canadian Alex Ellis was also yellow carded for repeated fouls in the grouping. Ireland decided to go for penalties and scored their first points to cut Canada's lead to 7-3.
Sooke, British Columbia's Rory Wood came on as a temporary replacement for Ellis, who made his international debut for Canada.
“I was really excited to get on the field and do my job, and I had to get into the groove really quickly, but I had the support of everyone around me,” Wood said.
In the 34th minute the Canadian attack finally got going for Queen's, as Claire Gallagher crossed the line like an arrow to flatten a corner. On the next throw-in, the hosts were able to recover the ball and send third row Julia Omokhwale into orbit to score her second international try. Tessier made both conversions and Canada took a 21-3 halftime lead.
The Irish scored their only try of the second half after coming back from the locker room to within 13 points of Canada, but the Canadians gave them no other chances. Canada's Gallagher was named MasterCard Player of the Match as the Canadians earned their second win of WXV 1.
“The Irish were very physical, challenged us in the grouping, were very disciplined and well-connected,” Canadian captain Tyson Bueckboom said.
Canada will take on World No. 1 England in the WXV 1 final at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver on Saturday, October 12 at 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast on TSN1, TSN5 and TSN+. You can buy ticketsHere.
More information about WXV, including the full schedule and results, is available on the official website wxvrugby.com.
Media accreditation requests are currently being accepted for the remaining WXV 1 games at BC Place Stadium on October 11-12. Here. For questions regarding media accreditation requests, please email media@rugby.ca.
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