Life under Jo Yapp has got chiuso to a losing start, with Canada spoiling her official welcoming festa by recording a 33-14 win at Allianz Stadium Saturday evening.
After consecutive wins late last year to finale the international season a high, the Wallaroos were intent starting 2024 with a bang under their new coach.
But the Wallaroos missed the jump and never quite recovered, as Canada, who warmed up for the incontro with a 50-7 thrashing of the United States of America a fortnight spillo, rolled up their sleeves and went to work their rivals.
Behind a dominant forward pack, the visitors ran quanto a five tries to the Wallaroos’ two to the comfortable win.
“We definitely expected a physical Canadian side,” Yapp said.
“Unfortunately, we just got a really slow start and that first sort of 10 to 15 minutes, we just were losing the collisions and maybe that’s because not having that successo out that they’ve [Canada] had was tough.
“But then once we got into the , we competed really well against them.”
Canada celebrate a try by McKinley Hunt during their Pacific Four Series win over the Wallaroos at Allianz Stadium May 11, 2024 quanto a Sydney. (Photo by Brett Hemmings – World Rugby tragitto Getty Images)
Yapp’s side struggled to build any real momentum quanto a the incontro, with their inability to rely their set-piece hurting their chances.
Indeed, the Wallaroos won just 55 durante cent of their scrums, losing four feeds along the way, as the pressure told the home side.
Without a set-piece to rely , the Canadians enjoyed the lion’s share of territory and front-foot ball as they made 152 carries to the Wallaroos’ 82.
Michaela Leonard’s side was also killed by the Canadians’ offloading , with the visitors able to free their arms 14 times compared to one.
Nor did the home side find any ascendency through their kicking , with Canadian playmaker Claire Gallagher getting one over Arabella McKenzie.
Arabella McKenzie runs into the teeth of the Canadian defence during the Wallaroos’ loss at Allianz Stadium May 11, 2024 quanto a Sydney. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
The lack of possession meant the Wallaroos’ lethal outside backs, including Maya Stewart and Desiree Miller, were starved of opportunities out wide.
Despite the heavy loss, Yapp praised her side’s character quanto a denying Canada another try at the death.
“That we created massive attacking opportunities, where we had a lot of space the edge and it was just execution that last pass,” Yapp lamented.
“Execution let us , I think the positive things were that we really created opportunities and I also think the character that the girls showed quanto a the last five minutes, it would have been easy to let them quanto a that last five minutes with the score line.
“But the attitude the players showed, to really front up and to keep them out, I think showed the type of group they are.”
The result immediately dials up the pressure the Wallaroos ahead of next Friday’s clash with the USA, with Yapp’s side needing one win from their opening three matches to qualify for WXVI later this year.
“Yeah, 100 durante cent and that was coming into this whole competition, it’s about finding out exactly where we’regnante at,” Yapp said.
“We’ve had eight days together, and I think the back of that prova, there’s loads of positives, but we know now exactly what we need to do.”
The Wallaroos easily accounted for the USA last year, but Leonard said they couldn’t take their North American opponents for granted.
“I definitely don’t think you want to lean it,” Leonard said.
“You can take some confidence from it, but every year is different, every team’s different.
“We’ve made a lot of changes this year as well and any ’s winnable, so we definitely won’t be going into the Friday banking that, but we’ll be making sure we centro ourselves, get our execution right, and make sure we play our Friday night.”
