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Tessier adamant Canada can 'go all the way' to win Women's Rugby World Cup / Photo: © AFP
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Tessier adamant Canada can 'go all the way' to win Women's Rugby World Cup
Canada captain Alex Tessier believes her side can "go all the way" by beating favourites England in Saturday's Women's Rugby World Cup final at an already sold-out Twickenham.
England, top of the world rankings, are on a record 32-match unbeaten run, having last tasted defeat in the Covid-delayed 2022 World Cup final.
But Canada, second in the global standings, produced the performance of the tournament so far in ending double-defending champions New Zealand's reign with a superb all-round display in a 34-19 semi-final win against the Black Ferns last weekend.
"We will give everything we've got," Tessier told reporters at Canada's training base in Windsor on Thursday. "We believe we can go all the way and it's not done yet. That has been the goal."
Canada are into just their second final, having lost to England in 2014.
They will now be up against the bulk of a capacity crowd of some 82,000 that will be cheering England on, with Canada training in headphones this week so as to improve their on-field communication in the event they cannot hear each other at Twickenham.
"I think we've taken a massive step forward in Canadian rugby by reaching the final again, and we will play for each other and give everything for each other on the pitch on Saturday," said Tessier.
- 'Move my life' -
Canada had to launch a crowd-funding campaign ahead of this tournament to boost their hopes of winning the World Cup, bolstering £1.4 million ($1.9 million) of backing from their national union with nearly £540,000 of external investment.
"We know it is our last week together so we've really enjoyed our time together," said Tessier. "It's been a really positive week, we've focussed more on the quality of our training."
Exeter midfielder Tessier is one of several members of Canada's squad who play for clubs involved in England's elite Premiership Women's Rugby competition, with England players very much a known quantity to their Canadian opposition.
"It's been huge for me personally to just move my entire life I guess to overseas to just live rugby every day and I think it's been huge for most of us, because most of us are in the PWR or in France, and so the fact we experience quality games every weekend has been huge for us," said Tessier.
"The fact that we play with the top players in the world against the best players in the world every weekend, you get to know where to attack them, what to watch for."
Canada pushed England close at WXV1 on home soil in October, leading 12-7 in the second half before the Red Roses won late on.
But coach Kevin Rouet, who named an unchanged side Thursday, believes the Maple Leafs are better prepared this time as they seek a first win over England since 2016.
"Experience together is important," Rouet explained. "At WXV, it's always the same that we don't have much time together before the tournament. This time, we had a lot of time to prep and be together."
I.Rodriguez--SFF
