Canada finishes strong at women's rugby World Cup

Julianne Zussman and Elissa Alarie scored two tries apiece to lift Canada to a 43-12 victory over Australia on Saturday, and a fifth-place finish at the Women's Rugby World Cup in Belfast, Ireland.

Canada missed the Cup semifinals, but ended the tournament with just one loss against finalist and No. 1-ranked New Zealand.

"That was a fun one to play," captain Kelly Russell said. "We want to play with high tempo. We want to use the width of the field and use our speed and we did that today. Australia played really hard and gave us a hard time in those breakdowns, but I'm so proud of the girls and the effort they put out there.

"The heart was amazing all throughout the tournament."

Russell, Amanda Thornborough, and Karen Paquin all scored tries, while Brianna Miller and Andrea Burk connected on two conversions apiece.

Canada came into the tournament ranked third in the world and finished runner-up to England in the 2014 World Cup.

The Canadians roared out to 98-0 rout of Hong Kong in their opening game, and followed it up with a 15-0 victory over Wales. But their hopes of a second straight World Cup medal were dashed after ending the preliminary round with a 48-5 loss to powerhouse New Zealand.

Final match for coach Ratier 

Saturday's game marked the final match with head coach Francois Ratier at the helm. Ratier took over as head coach in 2013, leading Canada into each of the last two World Cups.

"Francois has been amazing for women's rugby in Canada, building us to where we are," Russel said. "I'm also just so proud to play with every one of these girls and the support from the Canadians here and back home has been absolutely amazing."

Alarie finished the tournament with six tries, tying Magalie Harvey for the team lead.

New Zealand restores supremacy

New Zealand restored its supremacy by relieving England of the World Cup by 41-32 in the final.

After winning four straight Women's Rugby World Cups, beating England in three finals, the Black Ferns failed to make the semifinals in 2014 and watched England triumph in Paris.

But in benign conditions in Belfast, the New Zealanders came from 14 points down in a grinding first half to win comfortably in the end by nine.

It was only after they scored their seventh and last try, a second by fullback Selica Winiata from a cross-kick by flyhalf Victoria Subritzky-Nafatali, in the 69th minute that the Black Ferns made certain of their record-extending fifth title.