Canada’s Women’s Rugby: Rise Through Adversity
Image courtesy of Rugby Canada, 2025.
On Friday, September 19, the Canadian 15s Senior Women Rugby team made headlines at the Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol, England when they defeated New Zealand, the reigning women’s Rugby World Cup champions, 34-19. This victory allowed them to advance to the final.
According to BBC Sports that final between Canada and England ended up breaking records, gaining the attention of 5.8 million viewers making it, “The most-watched women’s rugby union match ever on UK television” and although losing in the finals 13-33, Canada’s silver medal ranking reflects the team’s perseverance and how although having low chances of even attending the tournament, their grit and determination allowed them to win against all odds.
History of Women’s Rugby in Canada
Rugby Canada is a non-profit National Sport Organization that was officially founded in 1974. It is the governing body of all rugby unions across Canada and helps to support and magnify rugby across the country. Just over 10 years later, the first Canadian women’s rugby match was played in Victoria, B.C. The team’s debut against the United States’ national team became a pivotal moment for women’s sports in Canada and established a foundation for the fast-growing sport the country knows today.
Some more notable historic milestones include:
- The women’s 15s attending all seven Rugby World Cup competitions
- The women’s 15s made it to the Cup final in 2014 before losing to England
- The Canadian Women’s Sevens win bronze at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games
Canada is now ranked #2 in the world for women’s rugby and has produced notable players such as Sophie De Goede, Alex Tessier, and Karen Paquin. However due to the sport’s lower popularity, resources, and budgets, the players are only paid $12,000, which, in comparison to the #1-ranked team, England, whose players have an annual income of £46,900 ($93,146 CAD), seems minuscule. And yet, despite the low income, Canada’s women’s rugby players’ unwavering love for the sport and dedication to their team have allowed them to climb the rankings.
How They Crowdfunded Their Way to the Top
As Rugby Canada is a non-profit National Sport Organization, they only have a fragment of the budgets compared to competitors such as England and New Zealand, and due to the organisation equally splitting the yearly operating budget between the men’s and women’s rugby teams, the women’s 15s team was only given 2.6 million dollars for the entirety of the World Cup. This amount wasn’t ideal due to the fact that it wouldn’t be able to cover all necessary costs including travel, food, training camps, and warm up matches, which is why in March of this year, Rugby Canada launched the crowdfunding campaign, “Mission: Win Rugby World Cup (MWRWC) 2025” with the goal to fundraise $1,000,000 CAD. CEO of Rugby Canada, Nathan Bombrys, stated that, “The Mission campaign was about supporting this outstanding team with the best possible preparation going into the tournament. Not just to go to the Rugby World Cup, but to win.”
Although the team still had one of the smallest budgets of the whole tournament ($3.6mil), head coach Kévin Rouet said how the Rugby community’s support and willingness to help Canada attend the World Cup showed, “The true spirit of Canadian rugby” and how the nation’s support motivated the team and drove them throughout the tournament and final; “Our players have worked relentlessly to reach this stage, but having the nation behind us has given us an extra edge, that our players will take with them onto the pitch in the final.”
Although Canada has and continues to face adversity with funding, which directly affected their path to the Women’s Rugby World Cup, with the help of their community’s continuous support and their players’ unwavering dedication and determination to win for both their team and country. Canada has defied all odds to become the current second-best women’s rugby team in the world, demonstrating how a little resilience and hard work can achieve great things.