The Australians will be huge underdogs in the last-eight clash with the world's No.2 team at Bristol on Saturday (Sunday AEST) but coach Jo Yapp, who could be overseeing her last Wallaroos game, is determined they make the best of their 'one shot' at a tournament sensation.
"From our perspective, the message is just 'don't come off the field thinking about ifs, buts and maybes'," said Englishwoman Yapp.
"We get one shot at this, so we've got to be brave, and we've got to go at them both in attack and defence."
That's what happened in last weekend's group match when Australia threw everything at tournament favourites England, even leading the hosts for more than half-an-hour until they gradually got ground down ruthlessly in the second half and ended up losing 47-7.
The oddsmakers in England expect something similar at Ashton Gate, with Canada overwhelming 1-7 favourites and increasingly favoured with forecast rain only expected to help their powerful pack thrive.
But that dream first half-an-hour against England has renewed the team's belief they can cause an upset, reckoned captain Siokapesi Palu, describing it as a "do-or-die game."
"There's been a huge confidence boost amongst the group. You can see week in, week out that we continue to get better, but just being able to produce a performance like that against England in that first 30 minutes probably surprised most of us, and probably was good for us.
"Because now we've instilled a bit of belief within ourselves that we can do things right as long as we execute it to the best we can."
She also believes the pressure may have switched to the Canadians, who were pushed hard in their last group match by Scotland, conceding three tries in their hard-fought 40-19 win.
There was encouragement that the world's sixth-ranked team could give Canada such a tough challenge, with Australia ranked just one place behind the Scots.
"The odds are against us this game, and the pressure then gets bounced back on Canada," said Palu.
"Like, it's up to them to perform to what people are expecting of them. But if that allows us to take that pressure off ourselves and play a little bit more freestyle rugby, which we're really good at, hopefully that puts belief in us that we can execute what we need."
Defeat would mark the end of the reign of the much admired coach Yapp, who admits: "I've been trying not to focus on that. Obviously, it's in the back of my mind, of course it is, because I want to stay with this group as long as I can.
"But we've just been trying to stay purely focused on the game, and then everything else after that will look after itself."
Champions New Zealand will take on South Africa at Exeter on Saturday, with France playing Ireland at the same ground 24 hours later while England will meet Scotland in Bristol on Sunday (Monday AEST) to complete the quarter-finals.
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