Consider Sophie de Goede back.
De Goede was at the heart of through the pool stage of the Women’s Rugby World Cup and became the team’s .
Then, 15 months after a torn ACL, she gave a tour de force in the first 20 minutes of the quarterfinal against Australia on Saturday, captivating a bumper Bristol crowd.
There were a couple of galloping runs into open grass, and visionary links in tries by wingers and Alysha Corrigan. Her own opportunistic try was a swift-thinking pick-up at a try-line ruck. Add her conversion from the sideline for and Canada was out of sight of Australia at 24-5 with the first quarter barely over.
Canada eventually won 46-5, and de Goede’s 66-minute shift earned her a second player of the match award in the tournament. She downplayed it but her actions spoke louder.
Already unconventional as a — nailing 17 from 24 in this World Cup — she also carried for more meters than anyone in the quarterfinal.
De Goede says her chemistry with scrumhalf Justine Pelletier contributed.
“Juji (Pelletier) and I have developed a really good connection over the years, and it doesn’t even have to be worked on that much in training; it’s just instinctive,” de Goede says. “She’s super fun to play off of, so is (Olivia) Apps; they’re so dynamic at the breakdown.”
Pelletier agrees: “I love playing with Sophie. She sees the game differently, she spots those little gaps. We’ve built great little connections.”
Coach Kevin Rouet sang de Goede’s praises, with a caveat.
“She’s good at finding those gaps around the breakdown, not just carrying, and I always say that the way we play the game helps Sophie to get all those carries,” Rouet says. “She’s an amazing rugby player; you have to understand that if she gets all those carries it’s because a lot of people do break down for her.”
De Goede broke down in June last year when her anterior cruciate ligament ruptured in training with the Canada sevens squad, a week after she was picked for the Paris Olympics and a month before the Games. It was bittersweet to watch her friends win the silver medal.
It was also little consolation that she did enough in 15s in the first half of 2024 to be picked for a second time in World Rugby’s .
De Goede was sidelined for 13 months until July when she reappeared on a tour of South Africa. Fitness proven, she’s started all six tests since then.
‘I love kicking’
She of the 2022 World Cup but since her injury Alex Tessier has had the armband, which she appreciates.
“I’m going back into the player that I want to be since coming back from injury,” de Goede says. “The team has been rolling for a while now so I’m happy with the way I’ve been able to integrate into the team and be a value add rather than be disruptive.”
She comes from Canadian rugby royalty. Her mother Stephanie (nee White) was the first captain of Canada in 1987 and led the women at the first two World Cups in 1991 and 1994. Father Hans was the Canada captain at the first men’s World Cup in 1987. An older brother Thyssen played 15s and sevens for Canada.
Her rugby IQ suited her start in the game at flyhalf, where she played for a decade until she moved into the forwards at about age 17.
“I love kicking and so I just kept at it,” she says. “I had a few coaches that were like, ‘Why are you still practicing this?’ It’s a nice thing go out on a Sunday morning and kick; it’s kind of cathartic.”
The last international she played before the ACL injury was the over New Zealand. In the World Cup semifinal on Friday in Bristol, Canada faces world champion New Zealand again.
“Sounds pretty sweet, eh?” she said.
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