Women's Rugby World Cup: How non-professional Canada crowdfunded way to final against England's Red Roses

When England's Red Roses players are asked what their key motivators are ahead of the Women's Rugby World Cup final this Saturday, their 2022 defeat at Eden Park is nearly always referenced.

If not for slipping to defeat in that the World Cup final to hosts New Zealand 34-31 while huge favourites, England's wait for the crown wouldn't be at 11 years and their staggering string of victories would be unbroken since 2019, instead of at 62 wins in 63 matches.

But that 2022 World Cup stings for Canada, also.

The splinter in Canada's finger is losing the semi-final to England 26-19 in Auckland at that tournament. Canada had England on the rack but couldn't deliver the coup de grâce. The pain and frustration was all over the face of then-captain Sophie de Goede.

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"There was no difference in talent out there today," she said. "Just imagine what we can do with more games and more resources."

They're about to find out. More games and more resources have the Canadians believing they've ticked every box to try and topple England at Twickenham and win a first World Cup.

Since rugby went openly professional in 1995, the women's sevens and 15s have replaced the men's side as Canada's flagship teams. But Rugby Canada hasn't had the means to contract them.

As a result, No 2-ranked Canada aren't a fully professional outfit like No 1 England, but they certainly feel closer than they did in 2022.

More than half of this 32-player squad play for clubs in England, including captain Alex Tessier and De Goede. More are sprinkled at clubs in France and New Zealand, while they are strengthened by six players from the sevens team that won the Paris Olympics silver medal last year and world series bronze medal this year.

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The amateurs on board include two firefighters, an engineer and a school coach. There are 21 players from 2022 still involved along with coach Kevin Rouet.

"I'm French so when I moved to Canada I can see a big difference in terms of the willingness to work very hard and not complain which I think represents Canada rugby," he said.

"They know we aren't the most well-resourced team but they move on very quickly and work hard on the field.

"It's a good group, a fun group to coach, a tough group to coach and I can be direct with them, that's what I like. They don't care if I don't cuddle them sometimes, they want the straight feedback. They're excited and fun but also focused on our objective."

Indeed, the RFU's revenue is some 20 times that of Rugby Canada. Captain Tessier says: "It's always such a tricky question. I almost run out of answers sometimes. We do need a lot more resources.

"It is hard, but we're used to it. I hate to say that we're used to it, but it's something that is out of our control."

Crowdfunding made World Cup training camps and warm-up Tests possible

Gathering the players from eight of Canada's 13 vast provinces and territories across six time zones, and giving them the best possible preparation for the World Cup prompted a campaign to raise $1m Canadian (£535,355). Rugby Canada wasn't coy in calling it Mission: Win Rugby World Cup 2025.

Pledges have reached 95 per cent and funded training camps in California, Ontario and Belfast, as well as warm-up Tests in South Africa and Ireland.

Another big piece fell into place when De Goede returned in July after 13 months out with an ACL knee injury. Her impact has been huge.

She leads the World Cup in carries, offloads and lineout takes, and contributed 55 points as that rugby rarity: a goalkicking forward. De Goede is nominated for 2025's World Player of the Year.

The impact of the team's stellar results since 2022 was grasped last month when they were watched on by a Canada-record crowd of 11,453 in Ottawa for a win against the United States.

The attention at home has skyrocketed as they've progressed at the World Cup, even drawing a good luck message from Canadian pop star Shania Twain. "I freaked out," Twain fan and Canada full-back Julia Schell said.

Canada swept their World Cup pool games against Fiji, Wales and Scotland and blew away Australia 46-5 in the quarter-finals, after which Rouet accused his team of being "too Canadian, too nice."

Next to be blitzed was two-time defending champions New Zealand. Canada handed the Black Ferns their first knockout loss in 34 years. Ruck speed - the fastest in the tournament - underpinned Canada soaring into their first World Cup final since 2014, when they lost to England 21-9 in Paris.

Rouet says he realised last year he had a team capable of winning the World Cup but he was lost for words by the breadth of his team's dismantling of New Zealand. Tessier wasn't.

"It's a fact we have a very fast attack," the captain said. "We've managed to build some depth since the last World Cup and it's shown.

"We support each other on and off the pitch. When we connect, it's beautiful."

Canada train with headphones and speakers ahead of historic Twickenham clash

Approximately 82,000 fans are set to be at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday, which will smash the record attendance for a women's rugby match.

In preparation, the Canada squad have trained with headphones on and speakers blaring in anticipation of struggling to communicate with one another on the pitch in-game.

Canada wing Asia Hogan-Rochester is among the players with experience of playing in front of a huge crowd, having represented her country at last year's Paris Olympics when an unprecedented 66,000 people watched the opening day of the women's rugby sevens programme at Stade de France.

"I feel like after a certain amount of thousands, it's all just noise and you can't hear each other either way," said the 26-year-old.

"There's also that home crowd element as well.

"We did a really cool training exercise of just putting headphones on so we couldn't hear each other and just really focusing on communication.

"We're kind of a team that reads each other's minds when we play so I'm just really excited for it. We're locked in."

The existing attendance record for a women's 15s fixture is 58,498, set as England clinched the 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam by beating France 38-33 at Twickenham.

Canada's squad initially had crowd noise from a football match played into their ears during the experimental training session.

A large speaker was then brought in, with the headphones kept on to continue hindering communication.

Rouet said: "It was just to get used to the noise and not being able to hear each other because we know that will be a factor.

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"To also change the synergy of the practice, having more fun and releasing the pressure. It was just an idea. Whether it works or not, we will never know."

Canada will climb to the top of the world rankings - above England - by snatching glory with a shock victory. What a story that would be.

What's next?

England's Red Roses will host Canada in the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham on Saturday September 27 (4pm kick-off).

France will face defending champions New Zealand earlier on the same day in the Bronze final at Twickenham (12.30pm).