The USA Women’s National Rugby Team played their first test match in two years against rivals, Rugby Canada at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colorado, losing 15-9.
The United States and Canada will face each other in a rematch on Friday, November 5 at Infinity Park with the kick-off set for 7:53 pm ET/4:53 pm PT. The match is available to view in the USA on World Rugby Facebook and in Canada on TSN.ca or through the TSN app.
Play in this test was halted in the fourth minute when Canada’s blindside flanker Janna Slevinsky suffered a leg injury and was replaced by Saracens, Sophie de Goede.
Canada’s debut, Renee Gonzalez opened the scoring in the 18th minute, motoring up the right-wing for a 5-0 over the Eagles after the conversion by scrumhalf Brianna Miller. The USA then answered back with a penalty goal from Megan Foster to cut the lead to 5-3.
A few minutes prior to the break, a try by Karen Paquin extended the Canadian lead after Sophie de Goede’s conversion to 12-3.
Megan Foster added two penalty goals early in the second half to cut the deficit to 12-9, but a penalty goal by de Goede extended the Canadian lead to 15-9.
Canada survived Women’s Eagles drives in the last ten minutes of the match for the victory.
For the USA, the following four players made their National Team debut: Jenny Kronish, Rachel Ehrecke, Saher Hamdan, and Ilona Maher.
Four new additions to the family 🦅🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/KHb3VooLIr
— USA Rugby (@USARugby) November 2, 2021
Canada also had three players making their Senior debuts in Renee Gonzalez, Sarah-Maude Lachance, and Nakisa Levale.
Teams & USA Match Preview
USA: 1 Hope Rogers 2 Joanna Kitlinski 3 Charli Jacoby 4 Jenny Kronish 5 Alycia Washington 6 Rachel Ehrecke 7 Rachel Johnson 8 Kate Zackary (C) 9 Carly Waters 10 Megan Foster 11 Sarah Levy 12 Gabby Cantorna 13 Alev Kelter 14 Tess Feury 15 McKenzie Hawkins 16 Saher Hamdan 17 Maya Learned 18 Nick James 19 Kristine Sommer 20 Elizabeth Cairns 21 Olivia Ortiz 22 Joanne Fa’avesi 23 Ilona Maher
CANADA: 1 Olivia DeMerchant (C) 2 Emily Tuttosi 3 DaLeaka Menin 4 Courtney Holtkamp 5 Emma Taylor 6 Janna Slevinsky 7 Karen Paquin 8 Gabrielle Senft 9 Brianna Miller 10 Alex Tessier 11 Sabrina Poulin 12 Sara Kaljuvee 13 Paige Farries 14 Renee Gonzalez 15 Emily Belchos 16 Gillian Boag 17 Brittany Kassil 18 Alex Ellis 19 Tyson Beukeboom 20 Sophie de Goede 21 Justine Pelletier 22 Nakisa Levale 23 Sarah-Maude Lachance
Match Officials: Referee: Julianne Zussman (Canada), Assistants: Amelia Luciano (USA) & Michael Jones (Canada), TMO: Chris Assmus (Canada)
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