Women’s rugby prepares for England “quarterfinal”
In order to win a World Cup, you must beat the best teams in the world.
On Saturday, Canada’s women’s rugby team has an exciting opportunity to compete against one of the strongest rugby nations in the world, England, in what the team is considering a “World Cup Quarterfinal”.
Both Canada and England have secured two bonus point victories against Samoa and Spain in Marcoussis, France, which sets up a winner-take-all scenario for the weekend’s test match. Whoever emerges victorious on Saturday will book their ticket to Stade Jean Bouin in Paris for the August 13 semifinal.
At the Women’s Rugby World Cup (WRWC), one team from each of the three pools automatically advance to the Semis, with the fourth spot going to the next best team from any pool based on tournament points and pointers for and against.
While still mathematically in the running for the fourth and final qualifying spot, Canada’s mindset is simple: we control our destiny and a win is what we’re after.
Head to Head:
Last August, Canada defeated England twice en route to capturing their first-ever Nations Cup title in Denver. Coach Francois Ratier’s outfit opened the tournament with a 29-25 victory over England, and followed that up with a 27-13 win to be crowned tournament champions.
However, in the final game of their November tour to Europe, England easily dismantled Canada 32-3 at The Twickenham Stoop.
Based on these last three results, and how both teams have fared so far at WRWC, women’s rugby fans around the world will be in for a real treat Saturday at 3:45pm local time (9:30am ET/6:30am PT) when these two sides square off.
Reminder that you can watch all of Canada’s games LIVE on TSN.
WRWC 2014 BROADCAST SCHEDULE ON TSN:
Canada vs. England – Aug. 9 at 9:30 a.m. ET on TSN2
Semifinal #1 – Aug. 13 at 11:45 a.m. ET on TSN
Semifinal #2 – Aug. 13 at 2:30 p.m. ET on TSN
Finals – Aug. 17 at 12:30 p.m. ET on TSN2
RUGBY CANADA WORLD CUP RESULTS
CANADA 31-5 SPAIN
August 1, 2014
Marcoussis, France
CANADA 42-7 SAMOA
August 5, 2014
Marcoussis, France
CANADA V. ENGLAND
August 9, 2014
Marcoussis, France
WOMEN’S RWC SEMIFINALS
(If Qualify)
August 13, 2014
Paris, France
Kickoff TBD
WOMEN’S RWC FINAL
(If Qualify)
August 17, 2014
Paris, France
Kickoff TBD
