Wales fell to a 38-21 defeat at the hands of Canada in an entertaining encounter at Cardiff Arms Park to spoil head coach Rowland Phillips’ hopes of an unbeaten autumn.
Carys Phillips, Sioned Harries and Lisa Neumann all scored for the home side, but the Canadians finished the stronger with three late tries to take the win.
Ranked fourth in the world, Canada broke the deadlock with a quarter of an hour on the clock after Sara Svoboda finished off a driving lineout.
It didn’t take Wales long to respond in kind when captain and hooker Carys Phillips was on the end of a forward surge five minutes later. Robyn Wilkins converted the try to give Wales a narrow lead.
The lead did not last long however, Canada refusing a kick at goal almost immediately after the restart in favour of a lineout – which proved the right call when Janna Slevinsky grounded the ball to make it 10-7 to Canada.
The scoreline stayed the same at the half-time whistle but Wales will have been disappointed not to have made the most of after a sustained period of pressure on the Canadian defence.
The sides exchanged blows in the form of converted tries at the beginning of the second half with Canada crossing first through Courtney Holtkamp, only for Wales to respond almost immediately through Harries.
Rowland Phillips’ team then took the lead just before the hour-mark after a Wilkins cross field kick was spilled past the whitewash for winger Neumann to pounce on.
A Wilkins conversion gave Wales a four-point advantage.
The Canadians turned the heat on after going behind with three quick-fire tries, the last of which was a stunning team move through the hands of the backs and finished off by full-back Elissa Alarie.
A wounded Wales had nothing left in the tank for the final ten minutes and could not find a way to close the gap.
