The USA and Canada women's national teams have named their squads to face each other at 7PM ET on Friday, July 26 at TD Place in Ottawa.
USA fans can watch live on Paramount+
This will be the last dance for the Women’s Eagles to fine-tune before departing for England for the final preparatory camp before entering their Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 window. Canada does have a match schedule against Ireland in Belfast in a week.
The USA Women will be looking to better their recent result from playing Canada in the PAC4 tournament just months ago in a sold out Kansas City where the Canadians took the edge 26 point over the Eagles 14.
Head Coach Sione Fukofuka will be testing some new combinations with Cass Bargell starting as scrumhalf and Lotte Sharp and Cheta Emba joining on the wings. Georgie Perris-Redding and Freda Tafuna also enter into the starting 15 in the back row alongside Captain Kate Zackary.
“We were proud of our last performance against Canada in Kansas City, and it is one we are proud of and take a lot of confidence from, especially to do it in front of such a great crowd," said Fukofuka. "We competed for the 80 minutes but needed to give ourselves more opportunities to score points, so we had some unfinished business. We have spent the past three weeks at the Mount preparing. First with the Fiji Test and now turning our focus on Canada. The players and staff have taken this time to zero in on our detail, work hard at our collisions and prepare to take the opportunities we are confident we will create against Canada.
“The team's energy has been great since we assembled for the Pre-World Cup Camp. The players came in knowing they’d have to work hard to earn their position on the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 Squad, but that's the only first step.
Canada, meanwhile, welcomes back star Sophie de Goede to the starting lineup. She suffered a nasty injury last fall and has been out since then save for a recent run-on as a sub. The former captain of Canada starts at lock alongside Tyson Buekeboom making for a formidable second row.
“The team is very excited to play at home here in Ottawa,” said Canada Head Coach Kevin Rouet. “Playing in front of Canadian fans is always a special experience for the players and I think this will give us a lot of momentum heading into the World Cup. It has been a short week of preparation, but the team has looked sharp in practice and we will be ready to perform on Friday in front of the Canadian crowd.”
Claire Gallagher has been named to start at fly-half for Canada in Friday’s match. A former player with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, Gallagher made her international debut in 2023 against New Zealand in Ottawa. Pamphinette Buisa, representing the Ottawa Irish Rugby Club, has been selected as a reserve and will begin the match on the bench.
The game will be live on Paramount+ in the USA and TSN5 and TSN+ in Canada. You can find tickets here>>
