Corrigan's rehearsed solo try stuns England and ends their 41-match unbeaten run

Alysha Corrigan has lifted the lid on the solo try that helped Canada end England’s 41-match unbeaten run, with the wing admitting she weighed up the risk in real time before pulling off a move she had already practised in training.

Canada defeated the reigning Women’s Rugby World Cup champions 24-21 at BMO Field in Toronto on Friday, handing England their first defeat since before their World Cup triumph and setting a North American attendance record for a standalone women’s rugby fixture in the process, with 18,621 fans present.

Corrigan crossed early in the second half, and her account of the moment captures both the instinct and the preparation behind it. “I just saw that there was nobody in the backfield and there were kind of like two defenders on me,” the 29-year-old wing told the Charlottetown Guardian. “I was like, ‘Well, I either keep this ball in hand and could get tackled into touch, or let’s see if I can pull this off.’ Then, when it bounced up into my hands perfectly, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this worked.’”

In the days after the match, Rugby Canada released training footage showing Corrigan rehearsing the exact same play, underlining that the try owed as much to preparation as to improvisation. “It [was] fun to pull [it] off in a game, but yeah, it was one of those holy shit moments,” she added.

The victory was also personally significant for Corrigan. It was her first Test appearance since last year’s World Cup final at Allianz Stadium, having missed the WXV Global Series fixtures in September. Before kick-off, the Olympic silver medallist walked onto the pitch with her four-year-old niece, Sophie, and sang the Canadian national anthem alongside her.

Attention now turns to Ottawa, where Canada host England again at TD Place this Friday. Corrigan is confident the Toronto result will drive demand. “There was obviously a lot of buzz and excitement around the Toronto game, but I think that with the win, it will only help the ticket sales in Ottawa and people will want to be a part of that atmosphere,” she said. “Every time that we’ve played in Ottawa before, we’ve had a great crowd and hopefully we can continue that.”