Preview: USA Women vs. Canada Women

Pacific Four Series
USA vs. Canada
SeatGeek Stadium, Bridgeview, IL
7:30pm CT – Paramount+

The Pacific Four rugby series concludes this weekend with the USA and Canada facing each other at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. For all intents and purposes, this is a race for second place in the series as both teams lost to the Black Ferns of New Zealand and defeated the Wallaroos of Australia.

Last weekend saw a three-hour delay in proceedings at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City due to severe weather. When it cleared, New Zealand defeated the Women’s Rugby World Cup runners-up 36-14, while the USA defeated Australia, 33-12.

New Zealand will play Australia on Anzac Day (equivalent of the USA’s Memorial Day in Australia and New Zealand) on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland (4:55am CT Saturday, Paramount+). New Zealand need just a bonus point regardless of result to clinch the Pacific Four title.

The Lady Eagles will hope to break an 11-match losing streak to Canada in international play. Their last win was in 2019 in the Women’s Rugby Super Series in Chula Vista, CA. Last year, Canada won both in the Pacific Four Series and in a World Cup Warmup in Ottawa.

As mentioned before, Canada were runners-up at last year’s Women’s World Cup and are ranked #3 in the World compared to #7 for the USA. USA head coach Jack Hanratty, who got his first win in charge last weekend, is expected a tough challenge.

“It’s no secret to us – and especially myself, the style and speed of which Canada want to play. We had and still have targets of a top-3 finish in this year’s PAC4 tournament. To compete with a top-three team in the world, we have to be at our best for 80 minutes. After Sacramento, we knew we had to make improvements in our rugby IQ backing momentum with momentum.”

Canada will look to bounce back from a tough loss to the Black Ferns in Kansas City last week. They have made five changes to their lineup for Friday night.

“Last week was a wakeup call for us,” said head coach Kevin Rouet. “So far, we’ve had a very short preparation time leading into our first two games but now we have had a full week to focus on getting back to the way we play the game and what has made us successful. The players don’t need much motivation for this game, it’s always fun to play against the USA but we have to follow our game plan and play to our identity. We have to be physical, execute on the small details of our game and control the tempo.”

Kickoff is at 7:30pm on the match streamed on Paramount+ in the USA and on TSN2 and TSN+ in Canada.

USA:  #1-Hope Rogers, #2-Kathryn Treder, #3-Alivia Leatherman, #4-Hallie Taufooou, #5-Erica Jarrell-Searcy (C), #6-Hann Humphreys, #7- Georgie Perris-Reading, #8-Freda Tafuna, #9-Abigail Paton, #10-Bella Vogel, #11-Erica Coulibally, #12-Katana Howard, #13-Emily Henrich, #14-Bulou Mataitoga, #15-Alev Kelter

#16-Paige Staphopoulos, #17-Reece Woods, #18-Olivia Woods, #19-Kapoina Bailey, #20-Tessa Hann, #21-Cass Bargell, #22-Kristin Bitter, #23-Telesi Uhatafe

CANADA:  #1-Brittany Kassil, #2-Emily Tuttosi, #3-DaLeaka Menin, #4-Julia Omokhuale, #5-Laetitia Royer, #6-Pamphinette Buisa, #7-Gabrielle Senft, #8-Sophie de Goede, #9-Justine Pelletier, #10-Taylor Perry, #11-Aurora Bowie, #12-Alexandra Tessier, #13-Shoshanah Seumanutafa, #14-Asia Hogan-Rochester, #15-Claire Gallagher

#16-Kiki Idowu, #17-Sierra Gillis, #18-Brooke Rempel, #19-Ashlynn Smith, #20-Rachel Smith, #21-Lizzie Gibson, #22-Mahalia Robinson, #23-Chloe Daniels

Referee:  Amber MacLachlan (Australia)