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Rugby Canada has launched a fundraising campaign to “win the Rugby World Cup 2025” in England, with the goal to raise $1m (\u00a3750,000).<\/b><\/p>\n
Canada Women are an amateur outfit but are ranked number two in the world, and gave World Cup favourites England their toughest game last year, losing the WXV1 final 21-12 in Vancouver.<\/a><\/p>\n To help with funding, a private donor will match all donations up to $50,000 (\u00a339,000) throughout March. <\/p>\n “We are fortunate that Rugby Canada is fully invested in supporting us in our mission to win a World Cup and inspire the growth of rugby in our country,” said Canada captain Sophie de Goede.<\/p>\n “That support has only grown over the years to the point that now, unlike many unions, our financial support is on equal footing to the men’s programme.<\/p>\n “The unfortunate part is that the resource pool from which those finances are pulled is much smaller than our competition and our union has been working tirelessly to grow that.”<\/p>\n Generous support of the rugby and Canadian sports communities has ensured Canada are 30% of the way to reaching their fundraising goal, which was officially launched in celebration of International Women’s Day on Saturday.<\/p>\n England are on a 20-game winning run but have not won the World Cup since 2014, when they defeated Canada in the final.<\/p>\n Canada have also reached the semi-finals on four occasions and were narrowly defeated 26-19 by the Red Roses<\/a> at that stage in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n