Canada’s goal is to win next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, says captain Tyson Beukeboom.
Canada, despite being amateurs, are second in the world rankings behind England, who narrowly defeated them 26-19 at the World Cup semi-final in 2022.
Canada welcome John Mitchell’s England team to Vancouver’s BC Place on Sunday in a decider for the WXV1 title, with both sides undefeated in this year’s competition.
“We have that belief [to beat England] but recently England have been our biggest challenge, so being able to go into that game and get a good marker of where we stand is important,” Beukeboom said.
“We are looking to build but also beat England as we don’t get to say that we have very often.
“It will be nice to have a benchmark of where we stand when it comes to the number one team in the world.
“Our goal is to win the World Cup next year and we are looking to build through this tournament to build that confidence.”
Canada have competed at every Women’s World Cup, coming closest in 2014 when they were defeated by the Red Roses in the final, also reaching the semi-finals on four occasions.
Unlike their main rivals for the World Cup, every player has an individual playing agreement with Canada Rugby to help cover flights, accommodation, daily expenses, training fees and match fees because of their amateur nature.
Following a victory earlier this year over New Zealand to clinch the Pacific Four Series, their sevens team picked up a silver medal at last summer’s Paris Olympics.
Added to comfortable wins over Ireland and France in WXV, they are now a team who their opponents must “watch out for”, according to lock Beukeboom.
“Having been on this team for a long time, I feel like we have always been here,” Beukeboom, who came off the bench during the 2014 World Cup final, added.
“It feels like we are really coming into our own right now and we are really building, we are looking to the World Cup, to put our name down and install fear in teams.”
