Canada's Sophie de Goede in action at the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup final against England.Andrew Boyers/Reuters
Rugby Canada has announced a third Canada-England women’s rugby test as part of this fall’s WXV Global Series, with the rubber match set for Oct. 23 in Ottawa.
Details of the TD Place matchup followed Monday’s announcement that the top-ranked Red Roses would face No. 3 Canada on Oct. 16 at Toronto’s BMO Field. The two sides will also meet Sept. 19 in England at Exeter’s Sandy Park.
The Canadian women’s five-game WXV Global Series schedule also includes away games against No. 4 France and No. 6 Scotland in September.
Canada and England have not played since last year’s Rugby World Cup final, won 33-13 by England on Sept. 27 before a record crowd of 81,885 at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.
Despite losing players to injury, pregnancy and other reasons, the Red Roses continue to dispatch all-comers. England’s current win streak stands at 36 matches, having outscored No. 5 Ireland, No. 6 Scotland and No. 12 Wales by a combined 179-43 in recent Six Nations play.
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England has not lost since the 2021 World Cup final – played Nov. 12, 2022, in Auckland – when it was edged 34-31 by New Zealand.
The Canadian women defeated the U.S. 42-10 in Ottawa on Aug. 1, 2025, in their last warm-up on home soil before the World Cup. The announced crowd of 11,453 that day set an attendance record for a stand-alone women’s rugby match in North America.
“This will be the fifth year in a row we’ve been in Ottawa. We’re averaging 10,000 so we’re hoping for another solid crowd in Ottawa,” said Rugby Canada CEO Nathan Bombrys.
The Canadian women played a pair of Pacific Four Series games in 2023 at TD Place, defeating Australia 45-7 after a 52-21 loss to New Zealand.
The Canadian men split a pair of games in Ottawa in July 2024, thumped 73-12 by Scotland after downing Romania 35-22. The Canada men lost 57-34 to Spain in Ottawa in July 2022.
The Canadian women are coming off a second-place performance in the Pacific Four Series earlier this month with wins over No. 8 Australia (34-0) and the seventh-ranked U.S. (50-12) sandwiched around a 36-14 loss to New Zealand.
Justine Pelletier of Canada, looks for ground to gain in a match earlier this month against the Australia Wallaroos in the Pacific Four Series in Sacramento.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
The win allowed the Black Ferns to take over second spot in the rankings, dropping the Canadians to No. 3.
Founded in 2023, the WXV previously was a three-tiered competition with Canada taking part in WXV 1, which featured the top three teams from both the Six Nations Championship and Pacific Four Series.
England won the first two editions with Canada runner-up in 2023 and third in 2024. The tournament was not held last year due to the World Cup.
The expanded WXV Global Series features 18 teams, split into two tiers.
The top 12 sides will play home and away matches in September-October while teams ranked 13th through 18th will take part in WXV Global Series Challenger play in Hong Kong in September.
England holds a career 34-3-1 record against Canada, winning 14 straight since a 52-17 Canada win in July 2016 in Salt Lake City.
The Toronto and Ottawa tests against England are being presented by Canadian Tire.