Canada takes their World Cup campaign to Manchester on Saturday when they take on Wales at Salford Community Stadium. The Maple Leafs enjoyed a strong start to their tournament when they cruised past Fiji last weekend, with a similar lineup on tap this week. Meanwhile it was a miserable opener for the Welsh as they suffered a heavy defeat to Six Nations rivals Scotland.
Current World Ranking: 2 (90.13 points)
2025-08-23 – Canada 65, Fiji 7 (York)
2025-08-09 – Ireland 26, Canada 47 (Belfast)
2025-08-01 – Canada 42, USA 10 (Ottawa)
2025-07-12 – South Africa 5, Canada 33 (Port Elizabeth)
2025-07-05 – South Africa 20, Canada 50 (Pretoria)
Current World Ranking: 10 (70.13 points)
2025-08-23 – Scotland 38, Wales 8 (Manchester)
2025-08-01 – Australia 36, Wales 5 (Sydney)
2025-07-26 – Australia 12, Wales 21 (Brisbane)
2025-04-26 – Italy 44, Wales 12 (Parma)
2025-04-20 – Wales 14, Ireland 40 (Newport)
 |
IN | OUT |
| 1 | McKinley Hunt | Brittany Kassil |
| 2 | Emily Tuttosi | Gillian Boag |
| 5 | Tyson Beukeboom | Courtney O’Donnell |
| 7 | Karen Paquin | Fabiola Forteza |
| 11 | Asia Hogan-Rochester | Fancy Bermudez |
|
IN | OUT |
| 1 | Maisie Davies | Gwenllian Pyrs |
| 2 | Molly Reardon | Kelsey Jones |
| 3 | Sisilia Tuipulotu | Donna Rose |
| 4 | Abbie Fleming | Alaw Pyrs |
| 6 | Bryonie King | Kate Williams |
| 8 | Georgia Evans | Alex Callender |
| 13 | Carys Cox | Hannah Dallavalle |
Kévin Rouet (Head Coach)
“Our mindset coming into this World Cup was to take it game by game so now we are focused on Wales and preparing for how they will challenge us on the pitch. It was great to start with such a strong performance against Fiji last week but as a team we must shift our mindset to Wales. The squad is excited to get back out there a test ourselves again against another quality opponent.”
Sean Lynn (Head Coach)
“Canada are ranked second in the world and are a very good side, so we now want to make sure we put pride back into the jersey. They have very good athletes and they love an offload. We didn’t have the physicality we needed against Scotland around the breakdown and we need to ensure that defensively we are making our one on one tackles. If we want to be a hard team to beat we can’t let a team score in the first 52 seconds. We want to try to make a fast start.”
Drizzly conditions are on the forecast but that won’t bother the Canadian forwards in the slightest. Emily Tuttosi is back in at hooker, and should thrive in the driving maul. Sean Lynn has made wholesale changes to his Welsh pack, dropping his two co-captains of a week ago. While that may spark an improved showing, it won’t be nearly enough to stop one of the premier teams in the tournament. Canada are heavy favorites in Manchester.
CANADA
1 McKinley Hunt, 2 Emily Tuttosi, 3 DaLeaka Menin, 4 Sophie de Goede, 5 Tyson Beukeboom, 6 Caroline Crossley, 7 Karen Paquin, 8 Gabrielle Senft, 9 Justine Pelletier, 10 Taylor Perry, 11 Asia Hogan-Rochester, 12 Alex Tessier (capt.), 13 Florence Symonds, 14 Alysha Corrigan, 15 Julia Schell
Replacements: 16 Gillian Boag, 17 Brittany Kassil, 18 Olivia DeMerchant, 19 Courtney O’Donnell, 20 Fabiola Forteza, 21 Olivia Apps, 22 Claire Gallagher, 23 Shoshanah Seumanutafa
WALES
1 Maisie Davies, 2 Molly Reardon, 3 Sisilia Tuipulotu, 4 Abbie Fleming, 5 Gwen Crabb, 6 Bryonie King, 7 Bethan Lewis (capt.), 8 Georgia Evans, 9 Keira Bevan, 10 Lleucu George, 11 Lisa Neumann, 12 Courtney Keight, 13 Carys Cox, 14 Jasmine Joyce, 15 Nel Metcalfe
Replacements: 16 Kelsey Jones, 17 Gwenllian Pyrs, 18 Jenni Scoble, 19 Tilly Vucaj, 20 Branwen Metcalfe, 21 Seren Lockwood, 22 Kayleigh Powell, 23 Kerin Lake
Date: Saturday, August 30
Venue: Salford Community Stadium, Manchester
Kickoff: 12:00 local (04:00 Pacific, 07:00 Eastern)
Weather Forecast: cloudy with showers, 64°F (18°C), wind S 8-13mph (14-21km/h)
Broadcasts: TSN 4 (Canada), Paramount+ (USA), RugbyPass TV
Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistants: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa) & Jess Ling (Australia)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ireland)
HEAD-TO-HEAD (14): Canada 10, Wales 2, Draw 2
2023-10-21 – Canada 42, Wales 22 (Wellington)
2022-08-27 – Canada 31, Wales 3 (Halifax)
2021-11-21 – Wales 7, Canada 24 (Cardiff)
2018-11-24 – Wales 21, Canada 38 (Cardiff)
2017-08-22 – Wales 0, Canada 52 (Belfast)
2017-08-13 – Wales 0, Canada 15 (Dublin)
2007-11-09 – Wales 3, Canada 25 (Taff’s Well)
2006-05-06 – Wales 16, Canada 11 (Cardiff)
2001-10-28 – Wales 13, Canada 13 (Ebbw Vale)
2001-10-21 – Wales 11, Canada 12 (Caerphilly)
