A late try to Alanna Fittes has given Canada a thrilling 22-16 win over Brazil in a see-sawing contest at Headingley.
With the scores locked at 16-16 with two minutes to play, Laura Mariu kicked downfield for the Ravens, Dani Frananda chased the ball and toed it ahead for Fittes to follow through and touch down inches from the dead ball line.
It was a fitting end to a game played in great spirit and with plenty of passion as both sides chased their first win of the tournament.
In the early exchanges it was Brazil who opened the scoring in the seventh minute when prop Franciny Amaral took off from dummy half close to the line and got across for her team's second try of the World Cup. Captain Maria Graf's conversion made it 6-0 to the Amazonas.
Canada hit back in the 25th minute when Mariu displayed her ball-playing skills to put centre Ferris Sandboe over on the right side.
Four minutes later the Ravens had a second when Sarah Maguire took a short ball from Kristy Sargent to score and make it 10-6 to Canada.
Sandboe should have had a second in the shadows of half-time but she spilled the ball with the line open and the Ravens went to the break up by four.
A great moment for Brazil in the 44th minute when Edna Santini took an intercept 10 metres out from her own line and raced 90 metres to level the scores.
On the hour mark it was Canada hitting the front when Megan Pakulis powered over from dummy half with her 20th carry of the match.
The Amazonas then mounted plenty of pressure and were rewarded in the 73rd minute when Patricia Bodeman burrowed over from dummy half and Graf converted to tie it up at 16-16.
With the match seemingly headed for a draw it was Canada who came up with the match-winner through Fittes to give them their second ever World Cup win having beaten PNG in Sydney in 2017.
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Match snapshot
- Laura Mariu and Kristy Sargent both had a try assist in the first half as Canada took a 10-6 lead to the sheds. Mariu is a three-time World Cup winner with New Zealand and is the only player to have competed in every women's World Cup.
- The Ravens' win was their second at a World Cup having beaten PNG 22-8 at the 2017 World Cup.
- Canada had 32 tackle breaks to Brazil's 15 in a free-flowing first half. The final tally for the game was 65 tackle breaks for Canada and 31 for Brazil.
- The error count hurt both sides, Canada finishing the night with 16 and Brazil 15.
- Brazil came up with 65 missed tackles for the match.
- Maddy Aberg came into the game with 25 tackle breaks from two matches for Canada and carried that form on with a string of damaging runs.
- Franciny Amaral led the way up front for Brazil with 199 running metres and 13 tackle breaks.
- Player of the match Megan Pakulis had 282 running metres and 10 tackle breaks in a powerful display.
- Canada made 1133 metres for the match, Brazil ran for 982 metres.
Play of the Game
After starting the game slowly the Ravens hit their straps midway through the opening half with two tries in four minutes, the second coming courtesy of some great skill by prop Kristy Sargent. Brazil's Amanda Welter had spilled a bomb and Canada sprung into action in the attacking zone, with Sargent going to the line and delivering a perfectly timed pass for Sarah Maguire to power over the line and take the Ravens to a 10-6 lead at the break.
What They Said
"I'm blown away, this is a huge team effort, everyone put everything out there. I'm very honoured but this is a team award, not so much a player award. It was grind from minute one to minute 80. I don' think we really knew what we were going to do next half the time and sometimes that's all the fun of it but next time we'd like to make it a bit easier for ourselves." - Player of the match Megan Pakulis
"That was one of the most stressful rugby league games I've experienced. To come away with the win at the end, that last play from Laura and Dani and Alanna, we desperately needed that. Brazil were incredible, they made us work, and they should be congratulated for their effort. We have to use this momentum now and keep building the game in Canada and look forward to three years' time." - Canada coach Mike Castle
"I couldn't be prouder of the girls, they did exactly what we asked this time. They were very hard on themselves last week and I was very worried about the mood but they came in and just played good rugby league. A win would have been fantastic but the girls have a lot more in them and once they started to click it was brilliant." - Brazil coach Paul Grundy
What's Next
Canada and Brazil will watch on from the sidelines as the tournament moves into the semi-final stage but both nations have taken huge benefit from the experience. Canada were taking part in their second World Cup having debuted in 2017 while Brazil became the first South American nation to participate in a World Cup.