Canada overpower Scotland to top Pool B

Comments by Canada head coach Kevin Rouet, captain Alex Tessier, Mastercard Player of the Match Emily Tuttosi and Tyson Beukeboom after their 40-19 win against Scotland in their final match in Pool B at Sandy Park on Saturday.

Kevin Rouet, head coach

On the performance:

"What I like about this team is that even if one part of the game is not perfect, we can score tries in many ways, so we still scored 40 points today against tough opposition so I think we should be proud of that. I think I'm very proud of them."

On finishing top to potentially avoid England until the final:

"At some point you have to face England, especially if you are going to win the World Cup, so whether it's a quarter-final or a final it doesn't change, you will have to face them. So I guess we'll see after their game who we'll be playing and then we'll prepare for the team we face."

On his group of players: 

"It's a good group, a fun group to coach, a tough group to coach and I can be direct with them, that's what I like. They don't care if I don't cuddle them sometimes, they want the straight feedback. They're excited and fun but also focused on our objective."

Alex Tessier, captain

On finishing as pool winners:

"We got the first job done, which was the pool stages. We wanted to finish first in the pool which we got done today. We got a few points on the board and the bonus point so I think we did the job."

On expectations growing around the team:

"I think we want to stay together and connected throughout whatever we're facing. We do our due diligence, analysing our opponent every game so every week is different for us and we take it week by week. The pool stages are done and now expectations are high because we're going to the quarter-finals and there's no going back after that. So we really need to nail that down next weekend and I really think we're prepared for it. Still a lot of work to do, a lot of learnings on that field, but we'll be prepared for what's next."

On potentially avoiding England: 

"Definitely important to finish first in our pool to be in the best position possible, so yeah, we did that today and whoever we face we'll be ready to face them."

Emily Tuttosi, Mastercard Player of the Match

On the atmosphere:

"It is really a blessing to be back at my home club ground (Exeter Chiefs). A little unconventional, I'm more used to being at the back of mauls, but pleased with the outcome today.

"I'm so thankful to see a full Sandy Park. The south west (of England) always supports rugby and today is testament to that - you see people from all all four nations here and a lot of local support. Women's rugby is here and it's here to stay. This was a really good testament to that."

On the game:

"A hard-fought win, a lot of us hadn't played Scotland before. We knew they would bring the fight and this wind also makes it a tale of two halves, but a fun physical game of rugby out there and I think some good rugby played by both sides."

On the quarter-finals:

"Really excited, we knew coming into it that we wanted for sure to make it out of pool play, we've done that and we've set ourselves up hopefully for success in the quarters. Bristol's just up the road but we're getting good at this moving around this, so hopefully a good week of prep for an exciting week of knock-outs." 

On the game, and result today:
“Yeah, coming out of the pool round with three wins is unreal and three bonus points as well. Can't really ask for more going forward.”

On her history-making day as Canada's most capped-player:
“It's so surreal. I've said to a couple of people now that I still can't wrap my head around the fact that it's me. But ultimately, it's a testament to how far our programme's come. We had two girls with 50th caps today, so the number of people making big-number caps is growing and growing. That's really exciting that I'm probably not going to hold on to that for very long, the lead. The young girls coming through, they're going to catch me pretty quickly."

On going to Bristol next week:
“I've played in Bristol a couple times, but never really seen Bristol, so it'll be nice to see a new city. I love that.”

On the potential opposition next week:
“We're going into whoever we play pretty confidently. We've played both recently and to come out on top. A few things to clean up from today, we're feeling good going into
the knockout rounds.