women
international women
Red Roses captain Meg Jones believes her side did themselves a “disservice” in their 26-26 draw with Canada in the WXV Global Series.
this weekend, England will play the North Americans again in the second of three women’s Test matches Rugby World Cup The 2025 finalists will play this calendar year.
Ahead of Friday night’s game in Toronto, John Mitchell’s team are encouraging the return of Amy Cokayne to the starting XV. The experienced hooker missed the September games due to injury.
September’s stalemate against Canada ended a 38-game winning streak for the Red Roses until they lost to the Black Ferns in the 2021 Rugby World Cup final in 2022.
“I think we probably did ourselves a disservice in the first game,” Jones said.
“The way we behaved, I don’t think was optimal for us, so we will definitely have something to prove in terms of our own performance.
“We want to build on that. We know we have more to show in terms of our performance.”
“We’re still competing at a high level and we’re still the best in the world, but the fact that we’re still perfecting what we do is a testament to us as a team and how far we want to go and push this game.”
Friday WXV Global Series the clash at BMO Field will be played in front of a record crowd. Rugby Canada predicts 18,000 fans will make it to Toronto, breaking the attendance record for a single women’s rugby game in North America.
The teams will meet again a week later at Ottawa’s TD Place. England will then travel to New Jersey to play USA Women’s Eagles at Sports Illustrated Stadium.
That match against the USA will conclude a grueling run of six Tests over eight weeks. In August, Mitchell described how these matches would, in part, serve as preparation for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029 in Australia. His captain, Jones, echoed those sentiments.
“It’s a dress rehearsal for Australia, the next World Cup, and it means we can be away from home and really fine-tune what it’s going to be like when we’re at the next World Cup,” she said.
“This gives us an incredible opportunity to do that, going out on their home soil, their fans.
“It’s hard to replicate what the World Cup gives you because it’s not the World Cup, it’s a completely separate tournament.
“We’re competitive and we always like to compete and play, so that’s what we like.”