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Toronto Sun
09-08-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
Canada women stumble in second half but beat Ireland 47-26 in final World Cup warm-up
Published Aug 09, 2025 • 3 minute read Canada's Florence Symonds (13) celebrates her try with teammates Julia Schell (15), middle, and Alexandra Tessier (12) as they take on the USA's during the second half of Women's rugby action in Ottawa on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press BELFAST — Florence Symonds scored two first-half tries and Canada survived an uneven second half to dispatch Ireland 47-26 Saturday in its final warm-up match before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in England later this month. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account After running up a comfortable 33-7 lead in the first half, the second-ranked Canadian women were outscored 19-14 by the fifth-ranked Irish in the second. The Canadians, who improved to 6-0-1 this year, have the next five days off before reassembling for the 16-team World Cup. Canada, which finished fourth at the last World Cup in November 2022, opens tournament play against No. 14 Fiji on Aug. 23 in York, then faces No. 9 Wales on Aug. 30 in Manchester and No. 8 Scotland on Sept. 6 in Exeter. 'We're ready,' said Canadian No. 8 Fabiola Forteza, named player of the match. The Irish, who finished third in Six Nations play this year at 2-3-0 behind No. 1 England and No. 4 France, are in Pool C with No. 3 New Zealand, No. 11 Japan and No. 13 Spain. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Justine Pelletier, DaLeaka Menin, Paige Farries, Julia Schell and Sophie de Goede also scored tries for Canada with de Goede adding six conversions. 'We were expecting physicality from the Irish team and that's what we got. But we kept on grinding,' said Forteza. Anna McGann and Beibhinn Parsons each scored two tries for Ireland. Dannah O'Brien booted three conversions at Affidea Stadium, formerly known as Kingspan Stadium. 'I'm really proud of our second-half performance,' said Irish co-captain Sam Monaghan. Both teams had players sent to the sin-bin in the first half with Menin sidelined for 10 minutes when the prop was yellow-carded in the 19th minute for head contact in a tackle, and hooker Neve Jones paying the price for too many Irish infractions. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The teams exchanged converted tries while Menin was off. Canada scored a try while Jones was off. Irish fullback Stacey Flood was yellow-carded in the 79th minute for head contact with de Goede scoring soon after. Canada lost captain Alex Tessier in the 24th minute after the star centre failed a head injury assessment. Canada improved to 16-5-1 since the last World Cup, with four of the losses to England and one to New Zealand. Canada tied New Zealand 27-27 in May in Pacific Four Series play. The Canadians threatened early, taking advantage of four straight penalties against Ireland. But the Irish resisted, winning a penalty at the breakdown near the goal-line to end the attack. Canada went ahead 7-0 after Ireland failed to find touch on a penalty. That opened the door to the Canadian backs and Symonds broke a tackle and slashed through the Irish defence in the 10th minute. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Four minutes later, Pelletier took advantage of an opening at the breakdown and ran in for a second try. Ireland replied in the 21st minute through a fine solo effort from Parsons with Canada down a player. But Symonds scored her second, dancing through the Irish defence for a 21-7 lead in the 24th minute. Ireland was warned twice in the first half by French referee Aurelie Groizeleau for taking too many penalties and Jones paid the price in the 30th minute for the next infraction. Canada took advantage three minutes later with Menin bulling her way over from close range to up the lead to 26-7. Farries added another on the stroke of halftime. Ireland came out with purpose in the second half, scoring tries from McGann in the 59th and 62nd minute, with the second a fine solo effort, and Parsons in the 71st. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Canadians answered with tries from Schell (in the 56th minute) and de Goede (80th). Canada improved to 4-1-0 all-time against Ireland. The teams last met in October at the WXV 1 tournament, with Canada winning 21-8 in Langley, B.C. Seeking consistency ahead of the World Cup, Canada coach Kevin Rouet made just three changes to his lineup that beat the 10th-ranked United States 42-10 in Ottawa on Aug. 1. With Gabby Senft being rested, Caroline Crossley slotted into the back row with Forteza shifting from flanker to No. 8. Pelletier, who came off the bench against the Americans, started at scrum half with Olivia Apps coming off the bench. Alysha Corrigan returned at wing after an injury absence. Irish coach Scott Bemand, who is set to announce his World Cup roster Monday, made 10 changes to the team that rallied from a 14-0 deficit to beat Scotland 27-21 last weekend in Cork. Check out our sports section for the latest news and analysis. Toronto Blue Jays Sunshine Girls Sunshine Girls Editorials Toronto & GTA
National Post
09-08-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Canada women stumble in second half but beat Ireland 47-26 in final World Cup warm-up
BELFAST — Florence Symonds scored two first-half tries and Canada survived an uneven second half to dispatch Ireland 47-26 Saturday in its final warm-up match before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in England later this month. Article content After running up a comfortable 33-7 lead in the first half, the second-ranked Canadian women were outscored 19-14 by the fifth-ranked Irish in the second. Article content Article content Article content The Canadians, who improved to 6-0-1 this year, have the next five days off before reassembling for the 16-team World Cup. Article content Canada, which finished fourth at the last World Cup in November 2022, opens tournament play against No. 14 Fiji on Aug. 23 in York, then faces No. 9 Wales on Aug. 30 in Manchester and No. 8 Scotland on Sept. 6 in Exeter. Article content 'We're ready,' said Canadian No. 8 Fabiola Forteza, named player of the match. Article content The Irish, who finished third in Six Nations play this year at 2-3-0 behind No. 1 England and No. 4 France, are in Pool C with No. 3 New Zealand, No. 11 Japan and No. 13 Spain. Article content Justine Pelletier, DaLeaka Menin, Paige Farries, Julia Schell and Sophie de Goede also scored tries for Canada with de Goede adding six conversions. Article content 'We were expecting physicality from the Irish team and that's what we got. But we kept on grinding,' said Forteza. Article content Anna McGann and Beibhinn Parsons each scored two tries for Ireland. Dannah O'Brien booted three conversions at Affidea Stadium, formerly known as Kingspan Stadium. Article content 'I'm really proud of our second-half performance,' said Irish co-captain Sam Monaghan. Article content Both teams had players sent to the sin-bin in the first half with Menin sidelined for 10 minutes when the prop was yellow-carded in the 19th minute for head contact in a tackle, and hooker Neve Jones paying the price for too many Irish infractions. Article content The teams exchanged converted tries while Menin was off. Canada scored a try while Jones was off. Irish fullback Stacey Flood was yellow-carded in the 79th minute for head contact with de Goede scoring soon after. Article content Canada lost captain Alex Tessier in the 24th minute after the star centre failed a head injury assessment. Article content Canada improved to 16-5-1 since the last World Cup, with four of the losses to England and one to New Zealand. Canada tied New Zealand 27-27 in May in Pacific Four Series play. Article content The Canadians threatened early, taking advantage of four straight penalties against Ireland. But the Irish resisted, winning a penalty at the breakdown near the goal-line to end the attack.
CBC
09-08-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Canada's rugby women stumble in 2nd half but beat Ireland in final tune-up before World Cup
Florence Symonds scored two first-half tries and Canada survived an uneven second half to dispatch Ireland 47-26 Saturday in its final warm-up match before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in England later this month. After running up a comfortable 33-7 lead in the first half in Belfast, the second-ranked Canadian women were outscored 19-14 by the fifth-ranked Irish in the second. The Canadians, who improved to 6-0-1 this year, have the next five days off before reassembling for the 16-team World Cup. Canada, which finished fourth at the last World Cup in November 2022, opens tournament play against No. 14 Fiji on Aug. 23 in York, then faces No. 9 Wales on Aug. 30 in Manchester and No. 8 Scotland on Sept. 6 in Exeter. "We're ready," said Canadian No. 8 Fabiola Forteza, named player of the match. The Irish, who finished third in Six Nations play this year at 2-3-0 behind No. 1 England and No. 4 France, are in Pool C with No. 3 New Zealand, No. 11 Japan and No. 13 Spain. Justine Pelletier, DaLeaka Menin, Paige Farries, Julia Schell and Sophie de Goede also scored tries for Canada with de Goede adding six conversions. "We were expecting physicality from the Irish team and that's what we got. But we kept on grinding," said Forteza. Anna McGann and Beibhinn Parsons each scored two tries for Ireland. Dannah O'Brien booted three conversions at Affidea Stadium, formerly known as Kingspan Stadium. "I'm really proud of our second-half performance," said Irish co-captain Sam Monaghan. WATCH l Shift in mindset in Canadian women's rugby 15s: One month out from Women's Rugby World Cup 2025 18 days ago Both teams had players sent to the sin-bin in the first half with Menin sidelined for 10 minutes when the prop was yellow-carded in the 19th minute for head contact in a tackle, and hooker Neve Jones paying the price for too many Irish infractions. The teams exchanged converted tries while Menin was off. Canada scored a try while Jones was off. Irish fullback Stacey Flood was yellow-carded in the 79th minute for head contact with de Goede scoring soon after. Canada lost captain Alex Tessier in the 24th minute after the star centre failed a head injury assessment. Canada improved to 16-5-1 since the last World Cup, with four of the losses to England and one to New Zealand. Canada tied New Zealand 27-27 in May in Pacific Four Series play. The Canadians threatened early, taking advantage of four straight penalties against Ireland. But the Irish resisted, winning a penalty at the breakdown near the goal-line to end the attack. Canada went ahead 7-0 after Ireland failed to find touch on a penalty. That opened the door to the Canadian backs and Symonds broke a tackle and slashed through the Irish defence in the 10th minute. Four minutes later, Pelletier took advantage of an opening at the breakdown and ran in for a second try. Ireland replied in the 21st minute through a fine solo effort from Parsons with Canada down a player. But Symonds scored her second, dancing through the Irish defence for a 21-7 lead in the 24th minute. Ireland was warned twice in the first half by French referee Aurelie Groizeleau for taking too many penalties and Jones paid the price in the 30th minute for the next infraction. Canada took advantage three minutes later with Menin bulling her way over from close range to up the lead to 26-7. Farries added another on the stroke of halftime. Ireland came out with purpose in the second half, scoring tries from McGann in the 59th and 62nd minute, with the second a fine solo effort, and Parsons in the 71st. The Canadians answered with tries from Schell (in the 56th minute) and de Goede (80th). Canada improved to 4-1-0 all-time against Ireland. The teams last met in October at the WXV 1 tournament, with Canada winning 21-8 in Langley, B.C. Seeking consistency ahead of the World Cup, Canada coach Kevin Rouet made just three changes to his lineup that beat the 10th-ranked United States 42-10 in Ottawa on Aug. 1. With Gabby Senft being rested, Caroline Crossley slotted into the back row with Forteza shifting from flanker to No. 8. Pelletier, who came off the bench against the Americans, started at scrum half with Olivia Apps coming off the bench. Alysha Corrigan returned at wing after an injury absence. Irish coach Scott Bemand, who is set to announce his World Cup roster Monday, made 10 changes to the team that rallied from a 14-0 deficit to beat Scotland 27-21 last weekend in Cork.
Irish Examiner
09-08-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Ireland outclassed by Canada in final Rugby World Cup warm-up game
WOMEN'S RUGBY WORLD CUP WARM-UP: Ireland 26 Canada 47 Despite delivering a spirited second-half display at Affidea Stadium in Belfast this afternoon, Ireland suffered defeat at the hands of Canada in their second and final Women's Rugby World Cup warm-up game. Before coming back to earn the spoils with six points to spare (27-21), Ireland found themselves staring into a 14-0 deficit against Scotland in their maiden World Cup warm-up fixture at Virgin Media Park in Cork last weekend. Thanks to tries from outside centre Florence Symonds and Justin Pelletier – both of which were converted by Saracens second row Sophie de Goede – they trailed by the same margin in today's test with just 14 minutes on the clock. Outside of the opening couple of moments, Ireland had struggled to gain a foothold in the game up to this point. However, they did gain a temporary numerical advantage at the end of the opening quarter when Canada's tighthead prop Daleaka Menin was sin-binned for a high tackle on Connacht flanker Ivana Kiripati. This was the cue for Ireland to establish some attacking momentum and when the ball was moved towards the right-flank on 20 minutes, Parsons regathered possession after initially being tackled by a retreating Canadian defender and proceeded to touch down in fine style. Ireland's prospects were further bolstered when O'Brien confidently split the posts from the conversion that followed Parsons' five-pointer, but this was as good as it got for the home team during the first half. Even though Canada were forced to withdraw team captain Alexandra Tessier for a head injury assessment, a second try from Symonds (in addition to a third bonus strike by lock de Goede) ensured Kevin Rouet's side had restored their 14-point cushion before Menin returned to the field of play. Her re-emergence coincided with Ireland's starting captain Neve Jones being issued with a yellow card by match referee Aurélie Groizeleau and the Exeter Chiefs front-row offered further breathing space to the 2014 World Cup finalists by driving over for their fourth try on 33 minutes. Ireland were back to their full complement prior to the interval, but with another intricate Canadian attack in stoppage-time leading to a converted finish for winger Paige Farries on the left flank, they trailed by all of 26 points (33-7) at the break. There was certainly a greater energy to the Irish play when the action resumed, helped in no small way by the introduction of regular team skipper Sam Monaghan for her second international appearance since recovering from a long-term injury lay-off. However, Canada maintained a potent attacking threat – exemplified by full-back Julia Schell's breakaway try 15 minutes into the second half. A fourth successful conversion from de Goede increased the gap between the teams, before Ireland finally hit a purple patch either side of the third-quarter mark. The addition of further fresh legs (including former England prop Ellena Perry for her Ireland debut) aided their cause substantially, but it was starting winger Anna McGann who got on the end of an elaborate pass out wide by full-back Stacey Flood for her side's second try on 59 minutes. McGann was becoming more prominent as the game progressed and the Westmeath native showcased her athleticism just three minutes later by sprinting through a gap in the Canada defence for an outstanding individual score. Having been denied a second successful conversion by the woodwork in the aftermath of McGann's first try, O'Brien made no mistake on this occasion as Ireland started to operate with a greater degree of authority. The Canadian rearguard were now being placed under sustained pressure by their Irish counterparts and after the play was switched from one side of the field to the other, Parsons was left with a relatively routine task of crossing over to the right of the posts on 71 minutes. O'Brien added the bonuses once again to reduce the gap to 14 points, but this was as close as Ireland came to claiming a dramatic comeback win. With Flood in the sin-bin following consultation between Groizeleau and TMO Andrew McMenemy, the excellent de Goede bagged a seven-point salvo in the final minute to ensure their opponents will depart for the World Cup on the back of a 21-point reversal. Scorers for Ireland: Tries: A McGann 2, B Parsons 2 Cons: D O'Brien 3 Scorers for Canada: Tries: F Symonds 2, J Pelletier, D Menin, P Farries, J Schell, S de Goede Cons: S de Goede 6 IRELAND: S Flood; B Parsons, A Dalton, E Breen (E Higgins 52), A McGann; D O'Brien, A Reilly (E Lane 66); N O'Dowd (E Perry 56), N Jones (C Moloney-MacDonald 56), L Djougang (S McGrath 71); R Campbell (E Corri Fallon 66), F Tuite; G Moore, I Kiripati (C Moloney-MacDonald 31-40 & S Monaghan h-t), B Hogan (C Boles 56). CANADA: J Schell; A Corrigan, F Symonds (S-M Lachance 68), A Tessier (S Seumanutafa 24), P Farries (O Demerchant 26-30); C Gallagher, J Pelletier (O Apps 56); M Hunt (B Kassil 52), G Boag (E Tuttosi 52), D Menin (O Demerchant h-t); S de Goede, T Beukeboom; K Paquin (P Buisa 56) (C O'Donnell 60)), C Crossley, F Forteza. Referee: A Groizeleau (France).
Irish Times
09-08-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Canada prove too strong for Ireland in final Rugby World cup warm-up
World Cup warm-up: Ireland 26 Canada 47 Ireland fought back from a first-half battering by Canada with a fine display in the second period of their final Rugby World Cup warm-up in Belfast Canada raced into an early 14-0 lead as Florence Symonds and Justine Pelletier touched down under the posts. Canada's Daleaka Menin was then sent to the sin bin for high contact on Ivana Kiripati and they were made to pay when the hosts halved the deficit through Beibhinn Parsons's try in the corner. Pelletier restored the 14-point lead for Canada before Ireland were reduced to 14 players when captain Neve Jones was shown yellow for conceding too many penalties. READ MORE Menin barged over for a fourth try before Paige Farries helped make it 33-7 at the break. Julia Schell walked under the sticks to push Canada over the 40-mark but Ireland started to score points of their own. Anna McGann helped herself to a couple of tries and Parsons scored a third unanswered try before Canada's Sophie de Goede capped off the win. Full report to follow
