women
international women
For the first time in three and a half years, the Red Roses left the field without a win.
Claire Gallagher’s touch kick ended England’s remarkable 39-match winning streak as Canada held the reigning world champions to a 26-26 tie in the bout WXV Global Series meeting at a sold-out Sandy Park.
England’s winning streak began in March 2023 and brought the women’s 2025. Rugby World Cup final victory, four straight women Six Nations titles, two WXV1 triumphs and a host of other accolades along the way.
But the third-ranked team in the world fired against the team that beat them in 2025. Women’s Rugby World Cup Final, refusing to be overwhelmed by England’s incredible record and securing a first draw against the Red Roses.
For England captained by Meg Jones, the match provided exactly the kind of challenge the team wanted.
“It was an incredible Test match rugby. We want a battle. We want it to be competitive and fair play to Canada, they slowed our ball down,” Jones told BBC Sport at full-time.
England have failed to find the consistency that characterized their long winning run and Jones admitted that discipline and execution let them down at key moments.
“We’re always cool as cucumbers and we trust our process. Our discipline probably let us down, we didn’t come in the right areas and we didn’t quite make it. We’ll make up for it and then we can go.”
“We have two more shots (against Canada), and we go again next week.”
Rather than dwell on the result, the 29-year-old insisted that England will use the Test as an opportunity to keep improving.
“We’re always getting better and we’re always looking to get better. When you play the best teams, they try to unlock you as much as they can, so we’ll get a lot of feedback from this and go at it again next week.”
The captain also referred to another big challenge ahead for England, and the Red Roses will face it New Zealand at the Allianz Stadium in Twickenham next Saturday 26 September in the next round of the WXV Global Series.
“We love playing the Black Ferns. It’s an amazing test match and an amazing rivalry and we get to go up against them at headquarters which is amazing.”
Echoing Jones’ assessment of the draw, England head coach John Mitchell told BBC Sport: “Canada were good. We were good too. It was a real arm wrestle at times.”
“We’re really in a Test series, which is great for us, so Canada should be congratulated on their performance,” he added.
“For us it’s about getting better and obviously there’s a bigger purpose than just this match. This is ideal for us and will allow us to stay focused and focus on what is necessary to perform better.”
Mitchell identified England’s difficulty in gaining territory during the first half as an area for improvement, although he was pleased with the pressure his side generated after the break.
“It took us a while in the first half to get access to their half. When we did, we made good pressure and converted, and we had a lot of pressure in the last 20 meters of the pitch in that second half. We’ll learn to convert.”
And with two more matches against Canada still to come in October in Toronto and Ottawa, Mitchell was unequivocal about the value of testing in this way.
“We’re in a series of tests. It’s all about getting better. I like it. It’s great for us.”
