Canada pulled out all the stops to beat Wales, with their defence excelling throughout the game.
Wales looked to have more possession and more attacks, but their visitors always had an answer for everything that was thrown at them, with full-back Petra Woods and substitute Tamisha Toussaint especially excelling.
Canada, coached by former Wales men’s World Cup player Matty Barron, pressured early in the game. Brittany Jones thought she may have scored, but the referee ruled it out for a knock-on.
But giving penalties didn’t help Canada’s cause to try and break the deadlock. After the second of those, two of Wales’s debutants linked up and were close to scoring. Zoe Heeley ran well and fed to Frances Layton, but she was pulled into touch.
After Wales’s pressure didn’t result in a try, Canada took the lead with a good length of the field set, which Dani Franada finished off by slipping through the line to score. Natasha Naismith converted.
Canada’s defence continued to hold, with Leanne Burnell stopped short of the line on the final tackle of two consecutive sets, not spotting Dani McGifford in space, as Wales looked to break their duck before the break.
Wales also defended well with Bethan Dainton and Jasmine Gibbons both putting in a shift. Tataina Joseph was stopped with 10 metres to go, as Canada’s 80-metre set eventually came to nothing.
But Canada quickly regained the ball and scored. Megan Pakulis bundled her way over the line. Naismith couldn’t convert but Canada went into the break with a healthy 10-0 lead.
Pakulis took just 70 second half seconds to score her second try and Canada’s third, which again went unconverted.
Wales continued to struggle to find the answers to this strong Canadian defence. Heeley again tried one of her mazy runs through the centre, which often results in a try for Cardiff Demons in the Women’s Championship, but at international level, she couldn’t get past the last line of defence.
From the next set, Layton, second only to Heeley in try scoring for Cardiff, also looked for a way through, but was smashed into touch.
A Ffion Lewis punt won a goal-line drop-out, but once again, the Canadians defended well.
Canada nearly scored in the final minute, which would have really cemented the win. Pakulis this time was the potential creator, but the ball flew past Jones and into touch.
