Wallaroos Show Fight But Fall Short Against Clinical Canada

Australia's Wallaroos were left empty-handed in Sacramento on Sunday, slipping to a 24-0 defeat against a dominant Canada side in their opening match of the Pacific Four rugby series. But captain Siokapesi Palu Sekona insisted there were genuine grounds for encouragement.

The match was delayed by more than an hour due to lightning strikes, with heavy rain still falling as the teams took to the field. The treacherous conditions played into Australia's hands early on, with the wet weather blunting Canada's lethal attacking threat. It took until the 19th minute for the world number two side to breach the Wallaroos' defence, with Julia Omokhuale's try from the base of a ruck opening the scoring.

Australia looked set to head to half-time down by just one score when disaster struck. A turnover with the final play of the first half was seized upon by Canada captain Justine Pelletier, who darted through a gap and offloaded to flanker Pam Buisa for a second try.

The Wallaroos struggled to gain a foothold in the second half. Sloppy handling cost them valuable possession and territory, with Sam Wood and Desiree Wood working overtime to spark anything resembling attacking momentum. Discipline also proved costly, Australia conceding 17 penalties and seeing centre Celia Smith and replacement hooker Brittany Merlo each sin-binned in the closing stages.

Canada wrapped up the scoring in the final quarter through tries from Asia Hogan-Rochester and debutant Kiki Idowu, completing a shut-out that left the Australians with much to reflect on.

Despite the scoreline, skipper Sekona pointed to the defensive improvements since their World Cup quarter-final meeting with the same opponents. "You can see with the scoreboard, there's a huge shift from that last quarter-final game back at the World Cup," she said. The Wallaroos face the United States in Kansas City, Missouri, in round two next weekend.