How have Canada closed gap to world champions England? — SkimNews
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- Canada ended the Red Roses' 41-match unbeaten run with a 24-21 victory in Toronto on Friday — England's first loss since 2022 and the culmination of a 26-26 stalemate at Exeter's Sandy Park in September.
- Before this autumn, England had won all seven meetings with Canada this decade, averaging a 22-point victory margin; at last year's World Cup final at Twickenham, the hosts ran out comfortable winners despite Canada's semifinal demolition of New Zealand.
- Canada head coach Kevin Rouet and several of his players have been gaining experience in England's PWR — the world's strongest professional women's domestic league — since Canada lacks its own professional league, giving them training and match sharpness they cannot find domestically.
- England fielded a depleted side without regular captain Zoe Stratford, second rows Abbie Ward and Rosie Galligan, back row Marlie Packer, and retired wing Abby Dow, leaving less depth and experience than the World Cup-winning squad.
- Canada's new number eight Lizzie Gibson made her Test debut in April and has been a hard-carrying option at the base of the scrum, part of an emerging talent pipeline since the last World Cup.
- A record-breaking Canadian home crowd of 18,621 packed Toronto's stadium for a match marketed as a chance for World Cup revenge, with the article suggesting England may have lacked internal goals after summiting the mountain of a home World Cup.
- The rematch is set for Friday 24 October at Ottawa's TD Place Stadium, live on BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website and app.
Why it matters: England's 41-match unbeaten run had made them near-untouchable in women's rugby; Canada's Toronto win, built on PWR-groomed talent and an 18,621-strong crowd, ends that dominance. With England missing four frontline players including their captain and the squad's motivational ceiling in question, Friday's Ottawa rematch becomes the first real test of whether this is a blip or a genuine power shift ahead of the next World Cup cycle.
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