England win Women’s World Cup with dominant display against Canada

Ellie Kildunne scored a wonder try as England banished their World Cup demons to be crowned champions by crushing Canada 33-13 at Allianz Stadium.

Kildunne produced the individual highlight of the match with a thrilling solo score in the ninth minute, but it was the magnificent Red Roses pack that made victory possible in front of a record 81,885 crowd.

Four of England’s five tries were supplied by the forwards, including two for number eight Alex Matthews, and there was the familiar sight of their scrum and maul grinding the opposition into submission.

And in defence they were responsible for shutting down Canada at a key stage in the second half when the tournament’s form team were taking advantage of a yellow card for Hannah Botterman to stage a fightback.

It was as England were defending their line at 26-13 ahead, with Asia Hogan-Rochester having run in her second try for the Canadians, that fears of another World Cup failure were at their strongest.

The Red Roses had reached the last six finals yet won only once, but on this occasion they held their nerve with their forwards facing down the uprising when it was at its fiercest.

How England would deal with their World Cup final gremlins was the great unknown heading to Twickenham, but it quickly became clear that it was Canada who were struggling with the occasion and overall the underdogs were disappointing.

Apart from scoring a brilliantly worked try through Hogan-Rochester, they had little to celebrate from a one-sided first half littered with errors and indiscipline.

England lost a line-out on their own throw to allow Hogan-Rochester to score, but that was the only mistake from their set piece, which directly led to scores for forwards Amy Cokayne and Matthews.

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