England wary of 'confident' Canada in WXV decider

WXV - Canada v England

Venue: BC Place, Vancouver Date: Saturday, 12 October Kick-off: 03:00 BST connected Sunday Coverage: Watch unrecorded connected BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer

Much of the build-up to some of England's caller games against New Zealand was if it was a adust tally for adjacent year's Rugby World Cup final.

New Zealand person beaten England successful back-to-back finals, but the Red Roses showed their existent dominance implicit them by comfortably winning some of their astir caller matches.

Following a objective triumph astatine Twickenham's Allianz Stadium – the venue for adjacent September's World Cup last - England impressed successful an emphatic nine-try WXV1 win past weekend.

Those wins underlined wherefore they are ranked fig 1 successful the satellite and considered steadfast favourites to triumph rugby's planetary showpiece.

Last Sunday's triumph extended the Six Nations champions' winning tally to 19 matches and moved John Mitchell's broadside to wrong 1 triumph of retaining their WXV1 title.

However, WXV1 hosts Canada, who ran England adjacent successful their World Cup semi-final successful 2022, are ranked fig 2 successful the satellite and are connected a six-game winning run.

They defeated New Zealand to triumph the Pacific Four Series earlier this twelvemonth earlier signaling large victories implicit France and Ireland to acceptable up a rubric showdown with England.

So is Saturday's decider successful Vancouver (03:00 BST connected Sunday unrecorded connected BBC iPlayer) the existent formal rehearsal for the World Cup final? Canada volition request a connection triumph to extremity England's winning tally but their assurance is building.

History is wherefore assumptions are made that England could conscionable New Zealand successful different World Cup final.

The brace person met successful 4 of the past 5 finals, with lone England's 2014 World Cup triumph coming against a antithetic opponent.

That hostile was Canada, who contempt their amateur presumption person besides reached 4 World Cup semi-finals.

Lock Tyson Beukeboom played successful that last decision a decennary agone and this week threw down the situation to her broadside to win adjacent year's World Cup.

"Canada person ever been knocking astatine that door," England skipper Marlie Packer, who besides played successful the 2014 final, said successful narration to Beukeboom's claim.

"If you look 10 years agone they were successful that World Cup final, they person ever been threats.

"We are getting to spot them much [because of WXV], but they person ever been a truly competitory side."

Seven players successful the hosts' starting XV play their rugby successful England's Premiership Women's Rugby league, with 4 much named arsenic replacements.

Prop McKinley Hunt and fig 8 Gabrielle Senft play for Packers' Saracens, wherever dissimilar the England captain, they play astir of their rugby due to the fact that of not being centrally contracted with their union.

"They bash a batch of grooming disconnected their ain backmost due to the fact that they are precise driven and diversion individuals," Packer added.

"Some of them are large rugby players and you enactment that with assurance past that is the Canada broadside we are seeing astatine the moment.

"They don't play unneurotic arsenic overmuch arsenic america oregon the different location nations, truthful that gives america an vantage successful the benignant of crippled we privation to play."

Although precocious scorelines nether erstwhile brag Simon Middleton wasn't uncommon, the bulk of tries came from done a ascendant maul and forward-oriented attack.

Mitchell’s extremity was to get his talented backmost 3 connected the shot more, and aft an archetypal accommodation play during the Six Nations, everything clicked past clip retired arsenic Ellie Kildunne, Jess Breach and Abby Dow scored a combined 7 tries against the Black Ferns.

"There was a clip erstwhile we had the rolling maul and often that is not the astir entertaining happening to watch," fly-half Holly Aitchison said.

"It is inactive a monolithic spot of our crippled that we tin spell to, but I americium truly arrogant of however we person adopted this caller benignant and person a truly breathtaking marque of rugby, particularly successful the pb up to the World Cup to captivate that audience.

"It is fun, entertaining and bully for the spectator and america to play in, it is accelerated and breathtaking and wherever rugby needs to get to successful bid to springiness the marque the abstraction it needs to and pull an breathtaking marketplace for radical who privation to ticker the game, that fills seats essentially."

A insignificant quad strain meant Aitchison allowed Helena Rowland to footwear for extremity past weekend, with the centre lone managing 2 conversions.

Aitchison struggled astatine times during the Six Nations disconnected the kicking tee, but did present a cleanable six from six conversions against France successful England’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider.

"The extremity kicking is not a interest for us, erstwhile you are playing that marque of rugby and it is going good determination is thing that has to beryllium picked up," she added.

"If we people successful the country past not everything volition spell over."

England: Kildunne; Westcombe-Evans, Rowland, Heard, Breach; Aitchison, Hunt; Botterman, Cokayne, Muir, Aldcroft, Galligan, Feaunati, M Packer (capt), Matthews.

Replacements: Atkin-Davies, Carson, Bern, Ward, Talling, L Packer, Harrison, Scarratt.

Canada: Schell; Hogan-Rochester, Seumanutafa, Tessier (capt), Farries; Gallagher, Pelletier; Hunt, Tuttosi, Menin, Holtkamp, Royer, Buisa, Forteza, Senft.

Replacements: Cline, Kassil, Ellis, Beukeboom, Omokhuale, Apps, Corrigan, Bermudez.