The road ahead is long and arduous, but the women’s national rugby union team is ready to go all the way in the World Cup which will be played in New Zealand over the next five weeks. As proof, she took her first test brilliantly on Sunday.
Posted at 9:40 a.m.
The Canadian squad made short work of Japan, winning 41-5 to start the competition on the right foot. “It’s one of the rare teams that we haven’t faced in the last few months, but we had studied their style of play and we were confident of offering a good performance”, comments Karen Paquin about this first meeting. you good for five points in the standings.
The 35-year-old veteran will also be accompanied by several compatriots from La Belle Province over the next few weeks, as 12 of the 32 members of the maple leaf come from Quebec.
PHOTO MIKE JONES, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Karen Paquin
Of the lot, Elissa Alarie, Alexandra Tessier, Justine Pelletier, Anaïs Holly, Fabiola Forteza, Brianna Miller, Ngalula Fuamba and Paquin walked the field from the start, while Pamphinette Buisa, Sarah-Maude Lachance, Sabrina Poulin and Laetitia Royer remained on the sidelines.
Author of two tries and a conversion on Sunday, Miller, from Pointe-Claire, was one of the key elements of Canada, which will be able to count on a mixture of youth and experience during this World Cup.
“We have a very balanced team and the chemistry is excellent. We have a good nucleus who have already experienced this kind of competition, but also several new players who arrive and who bring a little something extra,” believes Paquin, adding in passing that it will certainly be an advantage during tournament.
A World Cup is almost a full season and we have 32 quite different girls, which allows us to execute several game plans, so that’s cool! You can play an exciting style, or you can be very conservative or very physical. We can really adapt to all our opponents.
Karen Paquin
This aspect will therefore be essential for the Canadians, third in the world ranking, who will face daunting challenges for their next two Group B meetings scheduled for October 16 and 23.
They will first face the Italians (1-0), fifth favorites, before competing for victory against their rivals from the South, the Americans (0-1), sixth on the international board.
“We’re going to go one match at a time, but we’re confident we have the weapons to win our pool,” says Paquin. We have done our homework on each team and we are working hard to be ready. We have a very good level currently and we will rely on our strengths to continue to build on each success. »
At the end of the round robin, the top three nations in each group will advance to the knockout phase which will last for three weeks. This will then be the perfect opportunity to take advantage of all the preparation carried out before the event.
According to Karen Paquin, all the elements are in place to improve on the fifth place acquired during the last edition disputed in Ireland, in 2017, and to collect the second Canadian medal in history after the silver obtained in Paris, in 2014.
“We made a lot of sacrifices and all the girls are fully engaged in the process. Several of the group left home for six months for centralization and we will do everything to celebrate this World Cup in the right way. In the end, the sacrifices and the many efforts will eventually pay off,” she says in conclusion.