Rugby-England women extend unbeaten run to 17 games with Canada rout

England women's team underlined their status as the world's top-ranked side by extending their winning streak to 17 matches with a crushing 51-12 victory over Canada at Twickenham Stoop on Sunday.

England women's team underlined their status as the world's top-ranked side by extending their winning streak to 17 matches with a crushing 51-12 victory over Canada at Twickenham Stoop on Sunday. Heather Cowell claimed two tries on her debut, as did Sarah Bern and Claudia McDonald, with Alex Matthews also getting on the scoresheet against the number three-ranked side in the world.

The Red Roses' win followed record victories over world champions New Zealand - whom they beat 56-15 and 43-12 - to send out a warning before next year's World Cup in New Zealand. "We knew we would get a test from Canada, we always do. The score doesn't reflect how that game felt, there were patches where we had to really fight for it," England captain Sarah Hunter told the BBC.

"If we want to win a World Cup we have to have the squad depth, you can't rely on 15 players." Former Wales skipper Carys Phillips marked her first start in an international match for more than 700 days with a hat-trick as her team overcame South Africa 29-19 at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday.

It was their second straight win following a 23-5 thrashing of Japan. On Friday, Ireland shook off the disappointment of their failure to reach the World Cup with a 20-10 win over the United States in Dublin as Beibhinn Parsons, Leah Lyons, Lindsay Peat and Stacey Floods all scored.

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