Canada's Florence Symonds, centre, runs the ball between USA's Alev Kelter, left, and Ilona Maher, right, during the second half of Women's rugby action in Ottawa on Aug. 1.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
It’s unlikely Marie-Philip Poulin and the rest of the Canadian women’s hockey team will have to go cap in hand coast-to-coast to coast ahead of next year’s Winter Olympics in Milan.
But that is the position that Olivia Apps and Canada’s women’s rugby team have found themselves in through the buildup to the Rugby World Cup, which kicks off on Friday in England.
Both teams are currently ranked second in their respective world rankings, but while one is part of the cultural fabric of this country, the other, unfortunately, is not.
“It’s just one of those things,” Apps says of her team’s crowdfunding campaign. “You’re like, ‘Man, are we still in this place? We’re the second-ranked team in the world, and we’re still in this place?’”
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Despite the optics, the fundraising has been a success. The rugby team opens its tournament Saturday against Fiji having raised 95 per cent of the $1-million total it was aiming for to cover the costs of its training and preparations.
And though less than ideal, the situation has inadvertently provided extra grist for the mill, with some of the squad trying to flip it around as motivation to go one better than 2014, the only time Canada reached the final, when it fell to powerhouse England.
“Hopefully our kids are looking back and [saying] ‘Oh, well, our moms were able to go and win the World Cup and they had to go through this process,’” says Taylor Perry, who will start at fly half in the opener.
Canada’s financial footing is by no means unique in this tournament. While heavyweights such as England and New Zealand, who have won eight of the nine women’s World Cups, pay their players between $40,000 and $90,000 on fixed contracts – with World Cup win bonuses on top – teams like Samoa and Japan have no contracts at all.
Though the Canadian women have equal pay with the men’s team, the most a player competing in every game and tournament on offer this year would expect to receive is $12,000.
Canada back Olivia Apps, left, expressed disbelief over the contrast between the success she and her teammates enjoy on the field and the financial resources available to them as they compete internationally.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
“In terms of, like, positivity, let’s say that I think we are the only union where the men’s and women’s budget is the exact same,” head coach Kévin Rouet says. “But we are so much a small federation that, yes, if you compare directly our budget compared to other women’s budget, where the federations are way bigger, we are so [underfunded] for sure.”
However, the financial millstone around its proverbial neck has done little to slow Canada’s rise through the world of rugby, going unbeaten through seven games in 2025 and winning 16 of the 22 matches it has played since it finished fourth at the previous World Cup in 2022. That stretch has included breakthrough victories over France and New Zealand, the reigning World Cup champions.
Not that many in Canada would know about it, necessarily. The team’s most recent match on Canadian soil – a comfortable win over the United States in Ottawa – drew 11,453, which stands as a North American record for a standalone rugby match. But that pales in comparison with the 58,000 that turned out to watch England’s Red Roses play France at Allianz Stadium Twickenham two years ago.
Claire Gallagher, one of the 17 members of Canada’s World Cup squad who plays in England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby, can certainly see the difference when it comes to public awareness.
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“Playing in England, everyone knows rugby, like you are kind of a celebrity over there,” says the Leicester Tigers fly half. “So many young kids are playing rugby, whereas when we come back to Canada, there is less of that.”
That attitude has changed somewhat on these shores after last year’s Paris Olympics, when the Canadian women’s sevens team took home silver in front of 66,000 at the Stade de France, the largest crowd to watch a global women’s rugby event, in either sevens or 15s.
“I’ve seen the last 12 months since Paris, people just are stoked on the sport,” says Apps, who, along with Perry was part of that sevens squad. “Even if they don’t know anything about it, they’ve just been stoked on watching the energy of the women’s game.”
With a No. 2 ranking and a win in last year’s Pacific Four series, people across Planet Rugby are finally sitting up and taking notice of Canada.
While many expect next month’s World Cup final to feature the host Red Roses and the New Zealand Black Ferns, who have battled in the last two women’s World Cup finals, and in five of the last six, others aren’t so sure. Robert Kitson, the Guardian’s rugby columnist, wonders if Rouet’s team might emerge as the competition’s “dark mooses.”
Canada's women's rugby team was supported by 11,453 fans in Ottawa for their most recent game on home soil, a win against the U.S. on Aug. 1. The turnout stands as a North American record for a standalone rugby match and a sign that fans are warming up to rugby and the strength of its women's team in Canada.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
A recent top 50 list of players compiled by journalists around the world included seven Canadians, trailing only England’s 13 and New Zealand’s nine. Captain Alex Tessier, who was the highest-placed Canadian at fourth, says this kind of attention is new, and while it is a “sort of boost” the players aren’t dwelling on it too much.
“So the No. 4 in the world, she can’t disappoint us at the World Cup,” Rouet joked of his captain.
“Pressure’s up,” Tessier replied without missing a beat.
The spotlight will be certainly on all the teams competing in England over the next six weeks. More than 350,000 tickets have already been sold – more than double the total three years ago in New Zealand and dwarfing the 45,412 tickets that were purchased for the 2017 World Cup in Ireland.
World Rugby has responded to the increased demand for women’s rugby by increasing the number of participating nations from 12 to 16 for the first time since the 2002 tournament in Spain, and will see Brazil make its debut as a result.
Tessier believes her team’s “unique” style of play – a more agile, hybrid, less structured type of game - makes for attractive rugby and will convert more viewers into full-time fans of the sport.
Former Canada men’s fly half Gareth Rees, who played in the 1987 and 1991 World Cups, says that attractive rugby is one of the great selling points of the women’s game.
“It’s good, it’s compelling,” says Rees, who now provides colour commentary on many of the team’s games for TSN. “Ironically, the kicking is less prevalent, so therefore there’s more ball in play, and it’s actually way more interesting to watch.”
After the heartbreak of three years ago in New Zealand, falling just short in a 26-19 semi-final loss to England, Canada returns with a squad featuring an ideal blend of age and experience.
The 32-woman roster includes 21 who took part in the previous tournament, with 11 World Cup rookies. At the other end of the spectrum, Tyson Beukeboom, Olivia DeMerchant and Karen Paquin are all set to contest their fourth World Cup.
And highlighting the One Squad mantra that Rugby Canada has tried to foster between its sevens and 15s squads, six players also took part in last summer’s Olympics.
Entering his second World Cup as head coach, Rouet admits he’s learned some lessons from last time out.
For Saturday’s opener against Fiji, the Frenchman admits it’s maybe not his usual starting lineup, but he’s learned to put faith in all 32 players under his charge.
“I didn’t play enough players,” he says of the last World Cup. “I was focused on the same players, and we get exhausted at the end, because it’s a long six weeks, and it was new for me, and I couldn’t trust my depth.”
With further round-robin matches against Wales and Scotland, before Canada gets to the business end of the tournament, that trust is set to be put to the test, beginning Saturday (at noon ET on TSN) against Fiji.