Playing in Langley's new WIlloughby stadium, Canada made it two in a row at WXV 1, the second year of an elite international women’s rugby competition designed to accelerate the growth of the sport around the world.
Canada, who began the six-country event with a win against France at B.C. Place in Vancouver, defeated Ireland 21-8 in their second match of the tournament on Saturday, Oct. 5.
Head Coach Kevin Rouet said Canada was "in the place we want to be after two games with two wins, to be able to win WXV next week. We made some rotations to the lineup and used a lot of players today, so it is exciting to see good performances from players across our whole squad.”
Canada and Ireland went scoreless through the first 20 minutes of play.
In the 25th minute, a yellow card was given to Ireland for an intentional knock on at their own five metre line, which led to the hosts going up 7-0.
Seven minutes later, Canada’s Alex Ellis was sent off with a yellow card, for repeated infringements around the breakdown, asnd Ireland kicked a penalty to put up their first points, narrowing Canada’s lead to 7-3.
By halftime, Canada was leading 21-3.
Ireland scored the lone try of the second half early on to pull back to within 13 points of Canada, but that would be as close as they got.
In other WXV action at Willoughby on Saturday, France defeated the United States 22-14.
Willoughby was to host the England-New Zealand match Sunday afternoon.
Following the Langley win, Canada will play top-ranked England for their final match of WXV 1 on Saturday Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. when the competition returns to B.C. Place.
Canada finished second in the inaugural WXV 1 in New Zealand last year.
