A captivating set of Women’s Rugby World Cup semi-finals leave two key questions: Can Canada produce the same sort of performance that dethroned New Zealand again on the sport’s biggest stage? And can England afford to be as clunky and disconnected as they were for much of their win over France and still emerge as champions on home soil? In its totality, here was a weekend of glorious contrast that this tournament perhaps needed, two beautiful battles in very different ways contested with an intensity befitting an event that has catapulted women’s rugby into a spotlight it deserves.
One would still suspect that the Red Roses, now 32 games unbeaten, will take some stopping at Twickenham next week on their day of destiny, but assessing the finalists only on their most recent outing provides a straightforward conclusion. Even England would probably admit that the finest performance of the weekend came from the Canadians, vanquishing the Women’s World Cup’s perennial final boss with a performance of extreme accuracy and the clinical edge that the rest of the last four lacked.
