By Canadian Press

Canada Ravens set to face U.S. Hawks in Women’s Rugby League World Cup qualifier

Nov 8, 2024 | 12:08 PM

Fresh from an 80-0 drubbing of the U.S. Pioneers developmental squad, the Canada Ravens look to take a step closer to the 2026 Women’s Rugby League World Cup with a win Saturday over the full American team in Jacksonville, Fla.

The 16th-ranked U.S. Hawks progressed to Saturday’s final at the University of North Florida with a 42-0 victory over No. 23 Jamaica on Wednesday. Eighth-ranked Canada was originally slated to face No. 12 Brazil in semifinal play but the South American side pulled out due to financial reasons.

As the top-ranked side, Canada was given a bye to the final in Brazil’s absence, with a warm-up match Wednesday against the U.S. Pioneers. Canada beat Brazil 22-16 when they met at the last World Cup in November 2022.

Saturday’s winner will represent the region in next year’s inaugural 2025 World Series against No. 10 Ireland (Europe), No. 18 Nigeria (Middle East Africa) and No. 26 Fiji (Asia Pacific), likely in October-November.

“We’re confident that we can win but we understand (the Americans) have done a lot of work in the last 12 months as well,” Canada coach Mike Castle said of Saturday’s final.

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“Their performance against Jamaica was pretty dominant,” he added.

The World Series winner will complete the eight-team World Cup field in 2026 in Australia and Papua New Guinea, which already includes No. 1 Australia, No. 2 New Zealand, No. 3 England, No. 4 France, No. 5 Papua New Guinea, No. 7 Wales and No. 24 Samoa.

Rugby league is the lesser-known rugby code, played 13-a-side instead of rugby union’s 15-a-side. It’s a physical game with powerful forwards and elusive backs each offering their own kind of threat.

Wednesday’s makeup game proved to be no contest with Canada getting four tries from Brittany Jones, three from Fedelia Omaghan, two apiece from Andie Girard and Tash Naismith and singles from Ada Okonkwo, Natalie Tam, Jessica Bateman, Savannah Bacchus and Tamisha Toussaint.

Co-captain Dani Franada and Naismith combined to kick eight conversions for Canada, which led 32-0 at the half.

“They’re a very new team so we’re not going to read into it too much, being a development squad,” Castle said of Wednesday’s opponent. “But I was really happy with our discipline. Even though it was dominant performance and the opposition wasn’t quite as experienced, we were able to stick to our structures and performed really well.”

Castle will bolster his lineup Saturday with the likes of loose forward Meg Pakulis, front-rower Channy Crowl and fullback Lauren Mueller, who all played in England this season.

Maddy Aberg and Gabbie Hindley will also slot into the forwards.

Pakulis, Canada’s co-captain, spent some time training in Australia after impressing at a March combine in Las Vegas. That led to a contract with York Valkyrie in England.

Crowl and Pakulis met in last month’s Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final with Pakulis’ York Valkyrie defeating Crowl’s St. Helens 18-8. The win denied St. Helens the treble, having already won the Challenge Cup and League Leaders Shield

Pakulis, who turns 28 on Sunday, represented Canada at the 2017 and 2022 World Cups, scoring Canada’s first-ever try at the tournament. In 2022, she was named to the team of the tournament.

Mueller, meanwhile, will face a club teammate Saturday in London Broncos captain Courtney Treco.

Castle opted to rest those players mid-week to give playing time to others.

Three other Canadian players — Bacchus, Rachel Choboter and Caitlin Sears — have been playing in local competitions in New Zealand. The rest of the squad is domestic-based.

While Canada got some financial help from the International Rugby League for the Florida tournament, the players and staff have had to dig into their pockets to take care of the rest of the bill.

The Australia-based Castle, who has Canadian heritage through his father’s side, is in his second stint as Ravens coach. His day job is pathways project manager for Australia’s National Rugby League.

The Jacksonville games are the first internationals for the Ravens since October 2023 when the Canada women beat the U.S. 30-4 and host Jamaica 64-2 to win the inaugural Women’s Americas North Championship at the University of West Indies in Kingston.

The Canadians took part in the Vegas Nines tournament in March and played in the national championships in June

The Canada women made their debut at the six-team 2017 World Cup, scoring a first-ever win (22-8) over Papua New Guinea en route to the semifinals where they lost 58-6 to host Australia, the eventual champion.

Canada failed to reach the knockout round at the last tournament, delayed until 2022 due to the pandemic, in England. The Ravens lost 34-12 to Papua New Guinea and 54-4 to England at the expanded eight-team competition before dispatching Brazil.

The 2025 World Cup was originally to be held in North America but the hosting rights were later revoked in a dispute with the promoter. The competition was then awarded to France, which later withdrew due to financial concerns.

The tournament will now be held in 2026 in Australia, with some games in Papua New Guinea.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press