WXV 1: Canada to play England in winner-takes-all finale

Defending champions England set up a WXV 1 title decider against hosts Canada at the end of a thrilling second round at Langley Event Centre.

The Red Roses ran in nine tries to beat Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 winners New Zealand 49-31 and maintain their 100 per cent record in the top level.

Following a 21-8 victory for Canada against Ireland on Saturday, it means the winner of the teams’ meeting at BC Place next weekend will finish top of the standings.

In the other match of the weekend, France recorded their first victory of this year’s tournament, beating USA 22-14.

USA 14-22 France

Lina Queyroi gave France the perfect start in Langley with a ninth-minute penalty, but they struggled to build on their early dominance.

A combination of committed USA defence and French handling errors kept the score at 3-0 until late in the first half.

Eventually, in the 30th minute, good hands from Queyroi and Nassira Konde created the space for Marine Ménager to touch down in the left corner.

Queyroi missed the conversion and USA thought they had eaten into their eight-point deficit at the end of the half, only to see Kathryn Treder’s try chalked off for an earlier infringement.

And France took the game away from the Women’s Eagles with two tries in the opening eight minutes of the second half.

First Romane Ménager picked the perfect line to exploit a gap in the USA defence before Teani Feleu twisted to touch down following a powerful run.

Queyroi converted both tries to give France a 22-0 lead and when Hallie Taufoou was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on minutes later, it looked bleak for the Women’s Eagles.

However, the USA scored their first try, through Rachel Johnson, while a player light and Taufoou made amends somewhat by burrowing over in the final play.

Canada 21-8 Ireland

Defences were well on top in Saturday’s second match at Langley Event Centre until a brace of quick-fire yellow cards for Ireland opened up the contest.

Linda Djougang and Niamh O’Dowd were sent to the sin-bin within a minute of each other towards the end of the first half, the second of those resulting in a penalty try.

With less than nine minutes of the first half remaining, though, Canada prop Alexandria Ellis was also shown a yellow card, giving Dannah O’Brien the opportunity to get Ireland on the scoreboard.

O’Brien’s penalty narrowed the deficit to four points, but the hosts stretched into a commanding lead as they crossed the whitewash twice more before the break.

First fly-half Claire Gallagher dove over in the left corner in the 35th minute, before flanker Julia Omokhuale repeated the trick down the right. Alex Tessier converted both to make the half-time score 21-3.

Ireland gave themselves a chance of a comeback early in the second half as O’Brien measured a brilliant crossfield kick for Eimear Considine to touch down.

However, O’Brien missed the tough touchline conversion and despite the best efforts of both teams the score remained 21-8 at full-time.

New Zealand 31-49 England

The Black Ferns started like a team smarting from their opening round defeat to Ireland and took an early lead as Kaipo Olsen-Baker picked up at the base of an attacking scrum and powered through an attempted Natasha Hunt tackle to score.

Renee Holmes converted but as the half wore on, the quality of England’s back three began to dazzle and take the match away from their opponents.

Red Roses full-back Ellie Kildunne provided the assist for Abby Dow in the 10th minute, the winger finishing brilliantly in the right corner.

Helena Rowland added the extras to pull England level and they took the lead nine minutes later as Player of the Match Jess Breach went over the first of her three tries.

Kildunne turned try-scorer with 12 minutes of the first half remaining, and after Ayesha Leti-I’iga produced a fine catch to score her first test try since returning from injury, the England full-back got a second following a fine offload from Breach.

That made the half-time score 22-12 and the Red Roses took the match away from the world champions with three tries in the opening 12 minutes of the second half.

Dow, Hunt – from a charge down – and Breach were the players to cross the whitewash, Rowland adding her second conversion to take the score to 39-12.

New Zealand hit back through Georgia Ponsonby and Maia Roos but Breach completed her hat-trick in the final minutes before replacement Zoe Harrison went over to take England to 49 points.

The result had long been decided but the Black Ferns had the last say as Maama Vaipulu went over in the final play.