England experienced a halt to their extraordinary winning streak after being held to a twenty-six-all draw by Canada at Sandy Park on Saturday.

A passionate crowd of fourteen thousand five hundred seventy-three spectators in Exeter witnessed an intense encounter that saw both sides cross the try line four times.

Prior to this fixture, the English squad had not dropped a match since falling to New Zealand in the two thousand twenty-two World Cup final. John Mitchell's team has now extended their remarkable undefeated sequence to forty consecutive Test matches.

The stalemate also brought a halt to England's unblemished home record against the North American visitors, having previously triumphed in all thirteen of their prior encounters on home soil.

The opening twenty-five minutes provided a frenetic pace, with the hosts twice needing to overturn deficits following early tries from Lizzie Gibson and DaLeaka Menin for Canada. Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Hannah Botterman responded for England to level the score during the frantic early exchanges.

Moloney-MacDonald later secured her second try of the afternoon in the thirty-two-minute mark after capitalising on a powerful break from teammate Sadia Kabeya. Canada fought back immediately before the interval, however, as Menin powered over from short range to level the contest once more.

Following a period of sustained defensive resistance by the hosts at the start of the second half, prop Bryony Field pushed England ahead again. Canada quickly responded when scrum-half Olivia Apps touched down beneath the uprights following a brilliant individual surge down the flank by captain Sophie de Goede.

Both teams converted three kicks each during the afternoon, keeping the score deadlocked as the match entered its closing stages.

The hosts piled on heavy pressure during a chaotic final ten minutes in search of a winning score, coming close to crossing the line on multiple occasions. Crucial defensive stops, a turnover near the posts, and a handling error ultimately denied England a late victory as the visitors held firm to secure the draw.

Reporting based on coverage first published by BBC Sport. Read the original report at BBC Sport.