By Jonathan Bowen
In what will be described as the greatest day in women’s rugby history, two of the greatest rugby games of all time in all competitions took place on Saturday at Eden Park in Auckland. The semi-final matches were heartbreakers for the losers and elation for the winners.
In the first semi-final of the day, Canada lost 19-26 to England. Canada played with so much heart and passion but ultimately couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities that they had during the game to win. England were all class during the game and showed exactly why they are favorites to win the tournament. Canada will play France next week in the bronze medal game and England will play New Zealand in the final. The demand for tickets to next week’s final is so great that World Rugby is trying to find ways to add more seating into Eden Park to accommodate the fans
The Canadian team should be so proud of the fight and passion they showed against England. Many people had written Canada off before the game and had England strolling through. The Canadian team had very different ideas.
Canada started the game with a bang and took possession of the play from the kick off. Had Canada been able to convert their early possession and momentum into early points the result of the game may have been different.
When England eventually stopped Canada’s early possession, they marched the ball up the field and, after some great work from their forward pack after a lineout throw eight meters from the try line, managed to get Marlie Packer to fall off the back of a rolling maul and score the opening try.
England didn’t stop there; they had a sniff that the game was there to be taken and went all in. When Helena Rowland gained possession of the ball on the hallway line and decided to run with it, she found herself in acres of space and only when she was five meters out from the try line found herself needing to pass the ball out to the flying winger Abby Dow who fended off the Canadian fullback’s tackle and reached over the line to score the try.
England were now 14-0 up and Canada needed to find their way back into this game and, through some physical and tactical play, they did just this. On the 18 minute mark Justin Pelletier who had possession of the ball found some space on her own 10-meter line and ran at the English defence. When she crossed over the English 10 meter line she put in a perfectly weighted grubby kick which was being tracked and chased by Karen Pacquin who was then ready to catch the ball as it popped into her arms and cross the line to score the try. This wasn’t the end of Canada’s resurgence.
On the 35th minute, after some hard work by the Canadian forward pack continuously going through the ruck and tackle approach to score, the ball was eventually passed out wide to Alysha Corrigan who was able to fend off the last English tackler and go onto to cross the try line and score the try. The conversion by Sophie De Goode would then tie the game up with two minutes to play before half time.
With a minute on the clock before half time, Sara Kaljuvee was deemed to have entered an English ruck from the side, this would provide England with an easy penalty shot which was converted by Emily Scarratt that left England with a three-point lead at the break.
England would start the second half strongly and scored arguably the try of the tournament from their own defensive try line, managing to run the length of the field where Abby Dow would stroll across the line to score the try. It looked like Canada were done for, but in the 53rd minute some life was breathed back into the game when English player Vickii Cornborough was yellow carded for too many infringements while trying to defend against the Canadian team’s maul.
The tied was starting to turn back towards the Canadians when in the 67th minute Tyson Beukeboom would power her way across the English try line to score a try and, when Sophie scored the conversion, the game was on with ten minutes to go and Canada was only four points behind.
In the 70th minute England would score a penalty which would eventually break the hearts of the Canadian team. Sadly, for the Canadians they just couldn’t find a way in the last ten minutes to find that elusive try they need to bring the game to extra time. So it was that England would secure it place in the final.
The second semi-final had a lot to live up to, the first game had provided us with a classic match which saw Canada challenge England for the full eighty minutes of the match. What could this match provide that could possibly top that?
Well, the New Zealand vs France game would go onto to provide us with arguably the greatest game of rugby ever played in any grade. It is a game that must be watched to be believed.
New Zealand, being the host nation, were the favorites going into the match and with the French team losing their world class half back Laure Sansus earlier in the tournament not much was expected of the French team.
Like most games between France and New Zealand at Eden Park this game would end in heartache for the French team when, after 79 minutes of a titanic struggle by both teams, Caroline Drouin had the chance to win the game for France when France was awarded a penalty kick thirty meters out from their own goal line, but she missed, pushing the kick to the left of the posts meaning the New Zealanders would win the game by one point and secure their place in the final against England next week.
So next week in what will be the last week of the RWC 2021, Canada will play France for the Bronze medal and England will play New Zealand in the Final.
I highly recommend tunning into to watch these two games. Both have the potential to be classics and I will be pitch side for the Final and, as always, providing insights and photos from the event.
It is sure to be one not to be missed. If you want to keep up to date with all the latest rugby news you can find me on Instagram @jb052006 or and at twitter@Jonatha25906847.