Canada women’s rugby team inspires nation

Fans, friends, and family of Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team were glued to screens across the country Saturday morning as the team played for the game’s highest prize: the World Cup.

Canada’s bid for the title ultimately came up short, with the team falling 33-13 to an overpowering English side playing on home turf.

But the second-place finish, on the heels of last year’s silver medal at the Paris Olympics in Rugby Sevens, is made all the more remarkable considering how little the team was funded. The team got a tenth of the money England’s team received, forcing some of the players to work day jobs while they trained and to crowdfund just to be able to afford to attend the tournament.

“What these girls have done the past year, crowdfunding and getting support from all over the country, I just think it’s so amazing, and it really shows where the growth of the game is and how many people are getting behind us. It’s just so special,” said Charity Williams, 2024 Canadian Olympic Silver Medallist for Rugby Sevens.

“It’s just so special.”

“I think, pay us, we need the support, we need the funding, because we want to get to these games and these matches more and more consistently.”

It wasn’t just the team effort that was impressive. After the game, B.C. native Sophie de Goede was named World Rugby Player of the Year.

Head coach Dean Murten pointed out that Prime Minister Mark Carney was at Saturday’s game.

“I hope he’s kind of sitting there and thinking, ‘Wow, this is quite impressive, we need to dig deeper, and we need to support them,’” Murten said.

UBC Women’s Rugby Team props Ashley Mulindi and Sasha Oreskovich say they are proud of the team.

“We’re going to go up from here, but it’s just truly inspiring to everyone,” Mulindi said.

“Good job, girls,” Oreskovich said. “That was really hard, and you did such amazing work. You just inspired such a big crowd at home.”

While Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team wasn’t able to capture the title, it did capture the nation’s collective imagination and proved to the world that they belong at the top.