After a lopsided 66-7 win over No. 13 South Africa last weekend in their first outing since the Rugby World Cup in November, the fourth-ranked Canadian women expect a stiffer test Saturday against the seventh-ranked U.S.
The two North American rivals meet in Spain in the Pacific Four Series opener at Estadio Nacional de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid.
While Canada has had the better of the Americans in recent meetings, Canada coach Kevin Rouet expects the United States to look to disrupt at the set piece.
“I’m pretty confident they’re going to challenge us in the scrum, lineout, maul,” Rouet said. “And a lot of kicking. I expect them to kick a lot against us. That’s what they did at the World Cup. They didn’t take a lot of risks against us.”
Canada has a 25-19 edge in career games with the U.S, and has won the last seven meetings dating back to July, 2019. That run includes two victories at last year’s World Cup – 29-14 in pool play and 32-11 in the quarter-final.
The Canadians went on to finish fourth in New Zealand, losing to France in the third-place game after pushing England to the limit in the semi-final.
The Americans have just one victory in their last 11 games with Canada, a 20-18 decision in the Women’s Rugby Super Series in San Diego in July, 2019.
A win Saturday and the American women will climb one place in the world rankings to sixth, above Australia. The U.S. could jump to No. 5 if it beats Canada and Italy, currently No. 5, loses to top-ranked England.
Canadian men, facing rugby sevens relegation fight
HONG KONG — The Canadian men lost their opening match at the Cathay/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens on Friday, beaten 17-7 by Argentina. Josiah Mora, playing in his 100th HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series game, scored the lone try for Canada with Brennig Provost kicking the conversion. The Canadian men, who went into the tournament in 14th place after seven of 11 stops on the World Series, find themselves in a tough Pool A with No. 2 Argentina, No. 4 Fiji and No. 6 Samoa. Argentina is coming off a win at the Canada Sevens in Vancouver.
Canada finds itself in a relegation fight at the business end of the sevens season. The World Series is reducing the number of men’s core teams to 12 from 16 next season to align with the women’s competition and the Olympic field. The 15th-ranked core team following the 10th round May 12-14 in Toulouse, France, will be relegated. The teams ranked 12th, 13th and 14th at the end of Toulouse will enter a four-team relegation playoff together with the Challenger Series 2023 winners at the final round May 20-21 in London.
The eighth-ranked Canadian women lost a 5-0 nail-biter to No. 7 Britain in their opener in Hong Kong, which features the women’s Series for the first time. Heather Cowell scored the game’s lone try in the 10th minute with the British defence keeping Canada out in the final minutes. The Canadian women rebounded with a 22-5 win over host Hong Kong, with tries from Julia Greenshields, Breanne Nicholas, Krissy Scurfield and Taejah Thompson (her first in World Series play).