England Women v Canada Women

This was the first instance in which both finalists had been drawn together in the pool stage.

The teams were both drawn in Pool A and ran riot over their opposition Spain and Samoa. Canada played their first game against Spain on 1 August and a hat-trick from Magali Harvey gave the Canadians a 31–5 victory. England played only their second ever game against Samoa later the same day. They started slow and early in the match, scrum half Natasha Hunt was overturned onto her head by Samoan fullback Soteria Pulumu, which resulted in Pulumu being sent off, the first red card in a Women’s World Cup. Emily Scarratt then gave England first points before Katherine Merchant scored their famous first try. Merchant would then become one of four players to score twice along with the recovered Hunt, and wingers Lydia Thompson and Kay Wilson to give the former champions a 65–3 win. Four days later on 5 August, Canada and England defeated Samoa and Spain 42–7 and 45–5 respectively, playing in a similar fashion, both teams scoring five tries from five different scorers.

Having the superior historical form, superior scorelines against Spain and Samoa, as well as their most recent outing with Canada being a comfortable 32–9 win, England were favourites to take the final match of the pool on 9 August. Canada had the confidence with their first and second wins over England in the 2013 Nations Cup. England scored early on with a penalty from Emily Scarratt, with a quick response from a Canadian try of Karen Paquin, with Magali Harvey’s conversion missed. The score remained 3–5 until another Scarratt penalty in stoppage time; England leading 6–5 at half-time. Canada scored another quick try in the second half from Kayla Mack, again unconverted from Harvey. Scarratt however was able to convert the try of vice-captain Sarah Hunter to take the lead back for England a third time, before Harvey’s late penalty brought the scores level. What was to follow would become controversial over forthcoming years. England were awarded a penalty again in stoppage time that was easily kickable to the posts, the teams however discussed the decision, and agreed England should kick the ball into touch for a draw instead of over the posts for a win. This was after defending four-time champions New Zealand were upset by Ireland four days earlier. By drawing the game, the Black Ferns would be eliminated with both England and Canada going through with Ireland and hosts France. Had England gone for the posts, this would have meant New Zealand would have gone through instead of Canada, which both teams did not desire as Canada would have been knocked out and England had been beaten by New Zealand in the last three finals. In the tournament, the draw resulted in New Zealand being knocked out of the tournament for the first time since losing to the United States in the semi-finals in 1991, as well as guaranteeing new finalists as England were the only former finalists that had qualified for the 1st-4th semi-finals. Outside of the tournament, along with Canada failing to qualify for the 1st-4th semi-finals in 2017, the draw resulted in the format being changed for the 2021 tournament so that there would be quarter-finals preceding the semi-finals.

With the teams drawing, they were seeded 3rd and 4th overall, with England playing 2nd ranked Ireland, and Canada against 1st ranked France. Having only ever lost one out of their six semi-finals and being against Ireland who hadn’t yet played one, England were predicted to win the game despite their recent form against the Irish which had dwindled in recent games. England were not seen to be outright favourites as Ireland had recently beaten New Zealand for the first time and won the Grand Slam in the Six Nations the previous year. Canada had the much harder task of defeating the current Six Nations Grand Slam champions France. With the Black Ferns gone, France were new favourites along with England having claimed the Grand Slam for the first time since 2005. The semi-finals commenced on 14 August, with England playing Ireland first. Ireland fielded the exact same side that beat the Black Ferns and pressurised England until scoring first after quarter of an hour. England however, took cruise control and replied with 40 unanswered points with tries from Rocky Clark, Katherine Merchant, Kay Wilson and two from Marlie Packer; a performance that seemed like those England had previously put over Ireland. In the other game, Canada came out mostly second-best against the hosts. This was until an end-to-end solo effort from Magali Harvey, an effort that would win her the IRB Women’s Player of the Year and subsequently Women’s Try of the Decade. France responded but Canada held on to win, their second consecutive win over France in France, and made their first final, resulting in France’s sixth successive semi-final defeat. England meanwhile entered their fourth successive final, and sixth overall.

The remarkable and untold story of the 2014 Rugby World Cup winning England side from the view of their coaches, Gary Street and Graham Smith.

Gary and Graham speak to Eamonn Hogan and Jess Bunyard.

The producer and editor is Eamonn Hogan.