Olivia DeMerchant is one of Canada’s most capped rugby players. She currently plays as a prop for the Canada women’s rugby union team and Loughborough Lightning. Her national career began with the U20s team and she made her senior debut in 2013.
Born on 16 February 1991, Olivia DeMerchant started playing rugby in grade seven. After one unsuccessful attempt, she joined the Canada U20s team in 2011. Here, she was selected for two tours: one in The Bahamas and another in California. She then joined the senior 15s team in 2013 and made her first appearance against France in the same year.
One year later, DeMerchant was named in the Canada squad for the 2014 Rugby World Cup. She repeated this feat in 2022, when she made the lineup for the delayed 2021 Rugby World Cup. In between these two tournaments, DeMerchant became one of the team’s most capped players. She also earned two prestigious awards in 2019: Rugby Canada Player of the Year and the Rugby Canada Gillian Florence Award.
In addition to the international competition, DeMerchant’s club career began while she was at St. Francis Xavier University. She represented St. Francis X-Women for four seasons between 2009 and 2013, and returned there for one season in 2018. She transferred to Saracens in 2016 and Exeter Chiefs in 2020.
While rugby is her passion, Olivia DeMerchant has also represented Canada as a football player. She represented the Capital Area Lady Gladiators in 2015 and competed in the Maritime Women's Football League. She was named Maritime Women's Football League Offensive All-Star and Year with the Lady Gladiators for her performance.
With an impressive career that boasts more than 50 caps, we can’t wait to find out what Olivia DeMerchant will do next.
The defending Pacific Four Series champions New Zealand, who qualified for WXV 1 with victory, played the role of spoilers on an historic night for Canadian rugby as more than 10,000 fans attended for the largest ever crowd in Canadian rugby history for a women’s Test match.