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 on Sunday Coverage: Watch live on BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer

Much of the build-up to both of England's recent games against New Zealand was if it was a dry run for next year's Rugby World Cup final.

New Zealand have beaten England in back-to-back finals, but the Red Roses showed their current dominance over them by comfortably winning both of their most recent matches.

Following a clinical victory at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium – the venue for next September's World Cup final - England impressed in an emphatic nine-try WXV1 win last weekend.

Those wins underlined why they are ranked number one in the world and considered firm favourites to win rugby's global showpiece.

Last Sunday's victory extended the Six Nations champions' winning run to 19 matches and moved John Mitchell's side to within one victory of retaining their WXV1 title.

However, WXV1 hosts Canada, who ran England close in their World Cup semi-final in 2022, are ranked number two in the world and are on a six-game winning run.

They defeated New Zealand to win the Pacific Four Series earlier this year before recording big victories over France and Ireland to set up a title showdown with England.

So is Saturday's decider in Vancouver (03:00 BST on Sunday live on BBC iPlayer) the actual dress rehearsal for the World Cup final? Canada will need a statement victory to end England's winning run but their confidence is building.

History is why assumptions are made that England could meet New Zealand in another World Cup final.

The pair have met in four of the past five finals, with only England's 2014 World Cup victory coming against a different opponent.

That opponent was Canada, who despite their amateur status have also reached four World Cup semi-finals.

Lock Tyson Beukeboom played in that final defeat a decade ago and this week threw down the challenge to her side to win next year's World Cup.

"Canada have always been knocking at that door," England captain Marlie Packer, who also played in the 2014 final, said in relation to Beukeboom's claim.

"If you look 10 years ago they were in that World Cup final, they have always been threats.

"We are getting to see them more [because of WXV], but they have always been a really competitive side."

Seven players in the hosts' starting XV play their rugby in England's Premiership Women's Rugby league, with four more named as replacements.

Prop McKinley Hunt and number eight Gabrielle Senft play for Packers' Saracens, where unlike the England captain, they play most of their rugby because of not being centrally contracted with their union.

"They do a lot of training off their own back because they are very driven and athletic individuals," Packer added.

"Some of them are great rugby players and you put that with confidence then that is the Canada side we are seeing at the moment.

"They don't play together as much as us or the other home nations, so that gives us an advantage in the type of game we want to play."

Although high scorelines under former boss Simon Middleton wasn't uncommon, the majority of tries came from through a dominant maul and forward-oriented attack.

Mitchell’s goal was to get his talented back three on the ball more, and after an initial adjustment period during the Six Nations, everything clicked last time out as Ellie Kildunne, Jess Breach and Abby Dow scored a combined seven tries against the Black Ferns.

"There was a time when we had the rolling maul and often that is not the most entertaining thing to watch," fly-half Holly Aitchison said.

"It is still a massive strength of our game that we can go to, but I am really proud of how we have adopted this new style and have a really exciting brand of rugby, especially in the lead up to the World Cup to captivate that audience.

"It is fun, entertaining and good for the viewer and us to play in, it is fast and exciting and where rugby needs to get to in order to give the brand the space it needs to and attract an exciting market for people who want to watch the game, that fills seats essentially."

A minor quad strain meant Aitchison allowed Helena Rowland to kick for goal last weekend, with the centre only managing two conversions.

Aitchison struggled at times during the Six Nations off the kicking tee, but did deliver a perfect six from six conversions against France in England’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider.

"The goal kicking is not a worry for us, when you are playing that brand of rugby and it is going well there is something that has to be picked up," she added.

"If we score in the corner then not everything will go 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.