ManitobaBrian Yon watched Emily Tuttosi develop and refine her rugby skills over a decade in the small Manitoba town of Souris, and now he’s getting ready to watch her on the world stage.Souris’s Emily Tuttosi is only Manitoban on Canadian squad playing for world rugby titleDarren Bernhardt · CBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2025 12:31 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoEmily Tuttosi scored two tries for Canada against Scotland earlier this month in a 40-19 victory over Scotland in world cup play. (Submitted by Brian Yon)Brian Yon watched Emily Tuttosi develop and refine her rugby skills over a decade in the small Manitoba town of Souris, and now he’s getting ready to watch her on the world stage.Tuttosi and her Canadian teammates have rolled through the competition at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England and are now set to face the home squad — the No. 1 ranked team — in the championship final on Saturday.”Emily is the epitome of hard work and dedication. Even when she was a student at Souris School, you could tell she was destined for something special,” Yon told CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio guest host Marjorie Dowhos on Friday.”Her work ethic in the classroom, outside the classroom, on the rugby pitch, no matter what it was, she always gave it 110 per cent. To see the success that she’s having right now is no surprise to me.”Yon, a teacher at Souris School, coached Tuttosi on the Souris Sabres youth rugby team from when she was eight through her high school years.A photo from 2007 shows a young Emily Tuttosi, left, accepting a jersey presentation from coach Brian Yon, who had taken the under-12 Souris Sabres on a rugby tour to Calgary. Tuttosi and other players were given their jerseys before the first game. (Submitted by Brian Yon)”From early stages, you could tell she had the courage and work ethic to be successful,” said Yon.”I knew she was going to be a standout by the time she was age 12. Her abilities on the field were really starting to show, and I knew she was destined for great things in the rugby world.”Now 30, Tuttosi is the only Manitoban on a Canadian squad that will play Saturday’s game in front of a sellout crowd of 82,000 at Allianz Stadium in Twickenham.”Emily’s just an inspiration and a great role model for not just young women, but I think anybody who has met Emily and comes into contact with Emily. She’s just a great person and she’s a leader,” Yon said.”She’s the same person as she was years ago, in terms of how she carries herself as a consummate professional.”The attendance at the final will beat the women’s rugby record of 58,498, set in 2023 when England played France in the 2023 Six Nations Championship, the BBC reported.It’s a striking surge from the first Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991, when the final was played in front of 3,000 people in Wales.Emily Tuttosi pushes against a tackle by France’s Emeline Gros during women’s rugby union action in Vancouver last year. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)The growth of the game has been evident in Souris, a town of about 2,000 people in southwestern Manitoba, about 80 kilometres from Saskatchewan and 70 km from the U.S.”When I started teaching in Souris back in 2002, I don’t think anybody knew what a rugby ball was, but now it’s really big in our community,” Yon said.”We’ve had a lot of success over the years because of dedicated individuals like Emily, who helped put the game on the map. She’s definitely inspiring the next generation of young rugby players.”After high school, Tuttosi played for the University of Calgary Dinos and the Canadian club Calgary Hornets.Upon graduating, she moved to England to play for the Loughborough Lightning, where she spent one season before joining the Exeter Chiefs and becoming a full-time professional player.It was clear by age 12 that Emily Tuttosi was destined for great things in the rugby world, says former coach Brian Yon. (Submitted by Brian Yon)In that regard, Tuttosi has one foot in both of the countries playing in Saturday’s world championship. But it might be difficult to find any place where fans are cheering harder than in Souris.”The community is pumped up for the big game tomorrow. This team has taken the Rugby World Cup by storm, and everybody’s really excited to watch the final tomorrow,” Yon said.A watch party is taking place on a big screen at Souris School, where the doors will open at 9 a.m. The game starts at 10 a.m.”I think you’re seeing a lot of people that are going to be watching the game tomorrow that maybe don’t know a whole lot about rugby but are interested and keen to learn. This team has just really inspired a nation,” said Yon.He knows Tuttosi can handle the pressure and is ready, but if he was able to get a message to her on the eve of the big game, Yon would encourage her to “just enjoy the moment.””And to let her know that the entire community of Souris is behind her and we’re really excited. We’ll be cheering hard for her.”‘ABOUT THE AUTHORDarren Bernhardt has been with CBC Manitoba since 2009 and specializes in offbeat and local history stories. He is the author of two bestselling books: The Lesser Known: A History of Oddities from the Heart of the Continent, and Prairie Oddities: Punkinhead, Peculiar Gravity and More Lesser Known Histories.
Souris set to cheer hometown hero in Women’s Rugby World Cup title game on Saturday
