For those who were dreaming of a revenge Women’s Rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and England, think again.
England still have to get there — they play France at Ashton Gate this afternoon — and now it is Canada who will be hoping to get their own back on the Red Roses for their defeat in the 2014 World Cup final in Paris.
Whoever they meet, Canada will definitely fancy their chances after overpowering the reigning champions by five tries to three. Four of those tries came in a first half that was as near perfect as any coach could have hoped for — other than Canada’s Kévin Rouet.
“We should have scored another try in the first half. Even so, it was very calm in the changing room and we knew we were in control and I knew the game wasn’t going to slip away from us,” Rouet said.
“We are hungry and we came to win the World Cup. We are ranked second in the world and we said before we left that if you are second and you don’t want to go and win the World Cup then don’t go. I was already excited about next week’s final even before the final whistle. It won’t be easy either; it is England or France.” Advertisement The worrying thing for whoever they play is that every Canadian feels there is still much more to come from their side. And that’s after they made it three games in a row without defeat against the six-times world champions, became the first team to beat the Black Ferns in a knockout game at the tournament since 1991 and inflicted the first defeat on them at any stage in the competition in 4,063 days. But when you’ve got arguably the best women’s player on the planet in your side in the second-row forward Sophie de Goede, you are bound to believe you are capable of anything. She scored a try, ran the lineout, kicked three conversions and a penalty and was simply awesome from start to finish. De Goede goes over for Canada’s fourth try… PAUL HARDING/GETTY IMAGES …and then celebrates with her team-mates on a night when New Zealand conceded their most points in a World Cup match — and fifth most in a Test BOB BRADFORD/CAMERASPORT/GETTY IMAGES “I don’t think we’ve gone and done it yet, we’ve got one more job left to do. There was so much relief and pride after that match because the Black Ferns are six-times world champions,” De Goede said. That was a theme taken up by her captain, try-scoring centre Alex Tessier, who said her team had switched from being “underdogs to dark horses”. There is no hiding their credentials after this seismic performance. If the first half was a dream for the Canadians, it was just one big blur for New Zealand. They were beaten at the breakdown, kicked poorly and gave away far too many penalties. They conceded two tries in the opening 11 minutes to player-of-the-match Justine Pelletier and Asia Hogan-Rochester and went 17 points clear after 24 minutes when Florence Symonds crossed. Advertisement A charging run from hooker Georgia Ponsonby finally gave the Black Ferns a toehold in Canadian territory and her fellow forward, the prop Tanya Kalounivale, needed no second invitation to rumble over the line to score a try that Renee Holmes converted. If it was a chink of light for the champions it was soon snuffed out by the totemic figure at this tournament, De Goede. Another Pelletier snipe into the 22 and an exquisite offload off the floor to her second-row coming back on an angle created a huge gap for the fourth Canada try. Pelletier scored Canada’s opening try in the fifth minute PAUL HARDING/GETTY IMAGES The conversion went over, taking De Goede’s total for the tournament to 53 and New Zealand were staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat. They needed a positive start to the second half, but no sooner had the game restarted than the outstanding Karen Paquin ripped the ball out of the arms of Kaipo Olsen-Baker to set up a pressure point that ended with Tessier crossing close enough to the posts for De Goede to convert. Now the gap was 24 points and the Black Ferns were in desperate need of something to inspire them. It came via a head-down charge from a close-range lineout from back-row forward Liana Mikaele-Tu’u. Braxton Sorensen-McGee added the extras and the gap was three scores. Advertisement They had scored 36 unanswered points against South Africa in the second half of the quarter-final, so why not believe the comeback of all comebacks might still be on? Tale of two France scrum halves: from fierce rivalry to matrimony Owen Slot: Club who shunned women are now unlikely champions of female game And when Sorensen-McGee notched her ninth try of the tournament on the end of a superb kick-pass to the right by Ruahei Demant, anything seemed possible in the final 15 minutes. But New Zealand needed to be squeaky clean and a crocodile roll against Sylvia Brunt in front of her posts allowed De Goede to kick the penalty that took Canada three scores clear again and finally out of reach. Scorers: New Zealand: Tries Kalounivale 26, Mikaele-Tu’u 56, Sorensen-McGee 65 Cons Holmes, Sorensen-McGee. Canada: Tries Pelletier 5, Hogan-Rochester 11, Symonds 24, De Goede 35, Tessier 43 Cons De Goede 3. Pen De Goede (74). New Zealand R Holmes (Leti-I’iga 50); B Sorensen-McGee, S Waaka, S Brunt (Setefano 74), P Woodman-Wickliffe; R Demant, R Pouri-Lane (Joseph 62); C Viliko (Henwood 66), G Ponsonby (Lolohea 66), T Kalounivale (Rule 44), M Roos, A Bremner (Bremner 62), L Mikaele-Tu’u, K Tukuafu (Sae 56), K Olsen-Baker. Canada J Schell; A Corrigan, F Symonds, A Tessier, A Hogan-Rochester; T Perry (Seumanutafa 79), J Pelletier (Apps 62); M Hunt (Kassil 62), E Tuttosi (Boag 78), D Menin, S de Goede, C O’Donnell (Beukeboom 51), C Crossley, K Paquin (L Royer 62-74), F Forteza (G Senft 66-77). Advertisement Referee A Barrett-Theron (South Africa).
“Our tagline is ‘Be-leaf, Belief’. We’ve defied the odds time and time again and that propels you forward.”
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