Canada is one game away from hoisting the Women’s Rugby World Cup crown. The team is facing England in the finals this Saturday.Junior girls’ players from local rugby club Toronto Nomads said it has been exciting to see the national team’s tournament dominance.“It’s really inspiring, it makes you think you can go pro anywhere,” said rugby player Sarah McCabe. “It really makes me so happy seeing the women getting the recognition they deserve,” said rugby player Abigail Flores.The Nomads are excited for Team Canada, but there will be extra cheers for national player Asia Hogan -Rochester. Rochester played with the Nomads and helps out the junior teams.“I’m so proud that Asia made it all the way here from Nomads! I feel like I’m part of the community too,” said rugby player Ariana Pirnia.“She actually convinced me to start playing again after not wanting to play anymore and they convinced to me to keep going and told me that I’ll make it someday,” said rugby player Mikhalia.An inspiration to youthLeanne Stillman is the director of the Toronto Nomads junior teams. She said it’s been a delight seeing Asia evolve on and off the pitch.“Asia has been an inspiration to so many youths coming through our program,” said Stillman. “They really focus on supporting BIPOC youth and kids in general. On the field, she’s been an inspiration, just seeing the growth the development in the athleticism, the persistence through injury, the persistence in growing through a sport that has historically been a white sport in North America and really representing and giving hope to young people of colour and just young women and people in general.”The players have persistence in spades. Take national player Olivia Apps for example. She has alopecia but is using her platform to help raise awareness on the condition. “There are so many women in the rugby space that like are authentically themselves. And I think that’s a really special part of rugby,” said Apps. “It’s a really inclusive sport.”Canada vice-captain Sophie de Goede also returned from a knee injury in July. She is now a finalist for World Rugby’s Women’s player of the year.Determination is in the team’s DNA. Despite being ranked number two in the world, the group was still pegged as the dark horse in the tournament.“I think we knew that this was a really special group for this World Cup, and we knew we had the ability to go all the way,” said Apps.Raising money to playSometimes you just have to bet on yourself. That’s exactly what Team Canada did. To help get themselves to the tournament, they launched a $1 million dollar crowdfunding campaign earlier this year called: Mission: Win Rugby World Cup 2025. Rugby Canada gave the team $2.6 million, but the group realized they needed more funds to help put them in the best position to win. “With that funding, the purpose is basically like the more time the team could have together,” said Apps. So that’s playing international games, being in camps together, just having time together on the ground to train together. Our head coach believed that if we had that time, then we can be on the top of the podium at the World Cup and that obviously costs money. So that costs hotels, that costs food, that’s extra staff, that’s transportation, that’s everything. And so that’s basically where we can decide it is okay, like let’s raise all the money that we can to, you know, subsidize the costs that it takes to put us in that position. And I think it’s like, obviously it’s paid off right now.”The team has raised about 95% of the money, but the cash the team is using for this tournament is a fraction of what professional teams would have.“We’ve always done more with less and we’ve always found a way,” said Apps.Rugby’s time to shineThe last time Canada was in the finals was 2014. They lost to England in that game. In this rematch, they will play in front of a sold-out crowd at Twickenham Allianz stadium. They believe they have what it takes to cut down the Red Roses, and it’s that kind of drive that is drawing young girls to the field.“Not a lot of people know that we are out there like that so it means a lot,” said Mikhalia.“If rugby is your great thing, then this is your time to shine,” said Flores.There will be watch parties across Canada and the GTA including one hosted by the Toronto Nomads on Saturday morning, Stillman and Apps have high hopes that Canada will no longer be seen as the underdogs after the final whistle.“Asia and the rest of the team have really made an incredible mark this year and could really win it this Saturday, and I expect them to.”“We know that we don’t need to reinvent anything to win this final. We just need to play at our best and be really confident in what we’re doing.”