Sean Lynn’s Wales team endured a bruising start to Pool B of the World Cup, suffering a 38-8 loss to Scotland and the head coach admitted his players were “bullied off the park”.
That was despite months of preparation under the guidance of former rugby league enforcer Ben Flower in the dojo.
While Wales leaked six tries in defeat to their Celtic rivals, their next opponents were rampant.
Canada, ranked number two in the world, crossed the whitewash 11 times in a resounding 65-7 dismantling of Fiji.
Full-back Julia Schell was unstoppable in that contest, touching down six times in the second half alone.
With quarter-final qualification at stake, Wales know they must overturn history to progress.
Their last victory over Canada came in 2006, and the two nations’ most recent meeting ended in a 42-22 win for the North Americans at the WXV1 tournament in New Zealand.
Crabb acknowledged the stark reality:
“Our physicality was nowhere near where it needed to be against Scotland, but if we can get that right, it will really feed into every other part of our game,” she said.
“We need to win the physicality battle. Then we can get out, go forward and we can play in our structure.
“We’ve done all the physical preparation, it’s just how do we get ourselves in a place where we go and take a really physical team to dark places?
“Canada are a very physical team, they are ranked second in the world and they are up there with some of the favourites to win this tournament.
“We are the underdogs, but we also have nothing to lose.
“That’s what makes it exciting. We’ve got everything to gain because we are really disappointed in the way that we portrayed ourselves as a team last weekend.
“We’ve got to find a way to get into the quarter-finals and this weekend is going to play a huge role in that. We’ve just got to go after it.”*
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The scale of the task is clear, but there is encouragement from the support behind the side.
A record 10,054 fans packed into Salford Community Stadium for the clash with Scotland – the biggest crowd ever to watch a game between the two nations.
Wales will hope for another surge of Red Wall backing when they return to the same venue to meet the Canadians.
This weekend also rekindles a rivalry stretching back more than three decades.
The two teams first locked horns at the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup in Cardiff in 1991, sharing a 9-9 draw.
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Wales won their next encounter in 1994, but since then Canada have largely had the upper hand, including two commanding wins in 2017.
For Crabb, though, the experience of playing in front of big crowds is providing motivation as Wales aim to upset the odds.
“I had goose bumps walking out onto the pitch last weekend. It was incredible looking around and seeing a full stadium,” she said.
“As women’s rugby players, that’s not something we experience very much. Hopefully, we can see that is something we’re going to experience a lot more.”
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