After Canada finished fourth at the last Rugby World Cup in November 2022, Karen Paquin decided to give her body a break.

So the veteran flanker stepped away to concentrate on coaching at Quebec City's CNDF (Campus Notre-Dame-de-Foy).

"I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I knew I didn't feel quite done," Paquin said. "But I knew at that point I needed to be away a bit, so I kept playing, but more for my local club and my province and those kinds of games."

Paquin's mind changed when she watched Canada at the 2024 Pacific Four Series. She liked the look of the team's more expansive gameplay.

"I was like 'That might be something I want to get into.' Because it looked different, and it looked really fun. And I thought I have so much more to learn from this," she recalled. "So I decided to give

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