DOMINANT VICTORY FOR CANADA OVER ENGLAND IN WOMEN’S RUGBY SUPER SERIES OPENER

Canada scored seven tries, five of which came in the first half, as Julianne Zussman (2), Mary-Jane Kirby, Emily Belchos, Chelsea Guthrie, Barbara Mervin and Katie McNally all scored.

“It’s a really strong start to our campaign,” Interim Head Coach Shaun Allen said. “Our group is really happy to put in this performance on Canada Day. It was great to go out, score points, defend well, and we can now really build for the rest of the tournament.”

Canada came flying out of the gates in what was one of the most dominant first half performances in Canadian rugby history as they put 39 unanswered points on second ranked, and defending World Cup champions, England.

“I think we had really good spacing and really good work from our tight to five clear rucks, maintain possession and then our backs did a really quality job when they found space,” Allen said.

Belchos, who returned to Canada’s senior women’s team for the first time in almost two years, set the tone early as she split the England back line to find Alex Tessier who would offload to Guthrie to grab her first career test try in just the third minute. After an Andrea Burk penalty pushed the lead to 10-0, Barbara Mervin would get Canada’s second test try as she was the beneficiary of debutant Frédérique Rajotte’s break to push Canada ahead 17-0.

After Guthrie was held up under the posts, Canada wouldn’t have to wait long to grab their third try as Kirby would power over after a 5-meter scrum in the 23^rd minute. Canada had its fourth try inside the half hour mark as Belchos touched down after some swift ball movement from Canada as they led 29-0 after 30 minutes.

England’s Harriet Millar-Mills would see yellow in the 34^th minute and Canada capitalized once more before the break with Zussman scoring her first try of the day after Tessier had left the English backline in her rear view mirror with an outstanding break, giving Canada a well-deserved 39-0 half time lead.

Canada showed no signs of slowing down in the second half as Zussman danced her way through the England line before accelerating past the last defender to give Canada a 44-0 lead just four minutes into the second half as Canada continued to use quick ball movement to exploit the English defence.

England would reply through tries from Katie Wilson, Millie Wood and Bianca Blackburn while Burk tacked on another penalty before McNally got her name on the score sheet when she snagged her first test try with a few minutes left to seal a 52-17 win for Canada.

The victory marks just the third time Canada has beaten England in 24 meetings. All matches in the Women’s Rugby Super Series count towards the official World Rugby Women’s Rankings where Canada are currently ranked fifth. Before the tournament, Allen took the temporary role of head coach after Francois Ratier had to leave the team for personal reasons.

“I’m so proud of the girls,” captain Laura Russell said. “Everyone did their job. We had a great start to the tournament. It sets the tone for the rest of the way but to start on this note allows us to keep building from here.”

Frédérique Rajotte, Demi Stamatakis, Fabiola Forteza, Katie Svoboda, Brianna Miller and Anais Holly all made their test debuts for Canada in today’s win with Rajotte starting on the wing and the five others coming on as replacements in the second half.

Canada returns to action on Tuesday when they face hosts USA at 7pm ET/4pm PT LIVE on www.therugbychannel.tv. A subscription is required but the first 30 days are free.

“We’re so excited to start this tournament with a win,” Player of the Match Jacey Murphy said. “We all came into this game with specific goals for our units. We’ve still got two more big games left but we’re excited.”