Rugby Canada: Canada Beaten by England TDG in 2nd Game of Series
Canada’s women’s U18 team narrowly lost 17-12 in Game 2 of their series against England’s Talent Development Group Saturday.
Canada got tries from Sydney Smith and Danielle Grant. Canada lost Game one 41-17 as Taylor Black, Kendra Roberts and Sophie de Goede scored tries with de Goede adding the lone conversion.
Reaction from head coach Dan Valley:
“Our athletes should be really proud of the effort they put in today – it was a gutsy performance in some challenging conditions. We lacked discipline around the defending breakdown, but if we line up our performance today and our performance on Tuesday, the girls did an exceptional job eliminating the mistakes that cost us in match #1. We’ve talked a lot about incremental gains and the idea of being better every day, and today our athletes made exponential gains that were a reflection of the process we asked them to engage in over the course of our tour. Hopefully this process will continue to serve them well for the remainder of their careers playing for Canada.”
“Today we were much more organized with our defensive width and had greater clarity and better execution of our assignments – as I mentioned earlier, we were a bit sloppy contesting their possession and were punished with two yellow cards, but on the positive side, we were able to disrupt the English attack to a much greater degree today. On attack we were much more confrontational with ball-in-hand and our support lines were much more decisive.”
“Overall, the tour was a massive success. I fully understand that it would have been nice to come away with at least one win, but the experience these athletes were able to gain over the past 10 days competing (and preparing to compete) against the top U18 and U19 talent from the England TDG is invaluable. ”
“Although I believe that winning is a learned behaviour, and that it’s critical that at some point our athletes learn how to win on the international stage, this tour was as much about the process of preparation, performance, recovery, and analysis as it was about simply beating England TDG. We’ve tried to provide the athletes with the tools to go back to their provinces, regions, high schools and clubs and continue to develop. There are future NSWT athletes in this group and that’s really exciting. I’m looking forward to getting back to work once we get home. ”
“I’d like to thank our athletes and our staff for all of the work that went into making the tour run as smoothly as it did – we asked a lot of our athletes over the last 10 days, and they responded every single time.”
Canada’s Women’s U18 Team to face England U18 Talent Development Group (Name, Hometown, Province):
1. Tanika Bonneville (Bayside Sharks), Surrey, BC
2. Mackenzie Carson (Abbotsford RFC), Abbotsford, BC
3. Kendra Roberts (Souris Sabres), Souris, MB
4. Keegan Brantner (Lethbridge), Taber, AB
5. Harley Tucker (Calgary Hornets), Black Diamond, AB
6. Alex Liepmann (Barrhaven Scottish), Ottawa, ON
7. Shaye Tudor (Castaway Wanderers), Victoria, BC
8. Sophie de Goede (Castaway Wanderers), Victoria, BC
9. Taylor Donato (Ottawa Irish), Ottawa, ON
10. Annie Kennedy (Kingston Panthers), Kingston, ON
11. Taylour Hurd (Oakville Crusaders), Oakville, ON
12. Maddi Cohoon (Brantford Harlequins), Brantford, ON
13. Daniella Grant (Aurora Barbarians), Stouffville, ON
14. Darcie Weir (Calgary Irish), Strathmore, AB
15. Dawson German (Comox Valley Kickers), Courtenay, BC
16. Sarah Klock (Abbotsford RFC), Abbotsford, BC
17. Sydney De La Mare (St. Albert RFC), St. Albert, AB
18. Holly Phillips (Bow Valley Grizzlies), Canmore, AB
19. Danika Elias (Abbotsford RFC), Chilliwack, BC
20. Rylee Stone (Calgary Rams), Turner Valley, AB
21. Taylor Black (Oakville Crusaders), Oakville, ON
22. Sydney Smith (Valley Bulldogs), Middleton, NS
23. Emilie Merilainen (Belleville Bulldogs), Batawa, ON
24. Brooklynn Feasby (Oshawa Vikings), Port Perry, ON
Canada’s Staff:
Head Coach — Dan Valley
Assistant Coach — Duncan McNaughton
Assistant Coach — Ricky Coombe
Manager — Heather Vesh
Therapist — Amy Stefaniuk
Rugby Canada Development Coach – Sean Dunleavy
Canada’s Schedule:
April 5 — Canada 17-41 England U18
April 9 — Canada 12-17 England U18
Source Rugby Canada