Analysis: Canadian triple threat Sophie de Goede's skill set will ignite WXV 1
In the 1990s, the world of rugby was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of Australia’s World Cup-winning captain John Eales. Eales was a goal-kicking second row, who was equally masterful at the set piece as he was in the wide channels. As such, Eales was nicknamed “Nobody” because “Nobody’s perfect”. At the time, this felt like a fitting title- but with each passing day, Canada’s Sophie de Goede makes that nickname more and more redundant. Because if there is indeed a perfect rugby player in the world, she plays as a number 8 for Canada.
De Goede is the child of Stephanie White de Goede and Hans de Goede – two of Canada’s all-time leading rugby captains; it is as though Sophie was made in a lab to be the embodiment of any world-class rugby player. A genetically modified Canada captain is about to grace the stage of WXV1, as well as Premiership Women’s Rugby next season for Saracens.
So, just why is De Goede so good? The simplest way to put it is that she feels like a rugby player from the future. She isn’t the biggest number 8, but she is one of the strongest. She can have unflashy games, then you’ll check the stats sheet and realise she was the top carrier. And above all, the typical skills of a number 8 aren’t even her biggest strengths; she is essentially a fly-half in an 8’s body.
Now, let’s assess the benefits of having a number 8 with this skill set. Coach Kevin Rouet evidently encourages her to make good use of it, as opposed to merely sticking to the traditional role of an 8. Let’s view a couple of examples of her triple threat on the ball: kicking, passing and running. Firstly, we’ll revisit Canada’s Rugby World Cup tie against WXV opponents France.
Act I: Kicking
De Goede receives the ball in a regular carrying position. Naturally, the French defensive line remains flat, anticipating either a crash-up or for Canada to play wide.
De Goede spontaneously notices this, and puts a booming kick in behind. Importantly, the kick finds grass as it bounces over Emilie Boulard’s head. This makes the kick really difficult to field and gives the Canadian defensive line bags of time to advance and apply pressure.
After Boulard takes the ball in, Canada bring her to ground and De Goede jackals herself and wins Canada a penalty. Not only did her kick isolate Boulard, but it was so tricky that the kicker herself could get downfield and steal the ball.
Well – fair enough – she’s got a huge boot on her. But what about in the opposition 22 when the long kick isn’t really an option? Does she still function as an extra fly-half? Let’s examine a try from Canada’s Pacific Four match against the USA:
Act II: Passing
Canada find themselves on the USA line thanks to a prior De Goede line break. Their entire back-row are grouped together, but not in the traditional sense. As Sara Svoboda carries the ball, fellow flanker Fabiola Forteza runs a standard tip-on line. Typically, a number 8 would also look to offer a hard carrying option in this scenario, but instead, De Goede sits in the boot; the space behind her two back-row mates.
Instead of calling for the ball in the boot, she spots USA fly-half McKenzie Hawkins turning her hips inwards to mark Forteza. She tells Svoboda to tip the ball on, which she does, at which point De Goede breaks her position and flattens up. Forteza has enough time to feed her captain in space.
De Goede stays flat, and runs incredibly square for two or three steps. At this stage, she has already done enough to draw in her opposite woman, so she gives an early ball to Fancy Bermudez, who executes a 2v1 to put Sabrina Poulin in for a try.
So what? She’s essentially a fly-half – but why the hell is she playing in the pack? Is she even worth marking? If all she does is distribute, why not drift off her altogether? Well, let’s look at one more passage, from Canada’s thrashing of WXV1’s Australia.
Act III: Running
Having already scored one try from the back of a scrum and assisted another with a beautiful close-quarters offload, De Goede finds herself as lead carrier, with Forteza as her tip-on option. Fly-half Claire Gallagher is in De Goede’s boot this time, meaning Canada have two realistic distribution options inside a tight area.
Now: this may look like a call of “your woman” from Australia’s Kaitlan Leaney – but clearly she sees this not as a standard forward crash-up, but instead as the launch of a backline move. Leaney massively overreads the play, viewing De Goede’s default option as distribution. This opens up a huge gap for the Canadian skipper to run into.
De Goede fends off Michaela Leonard and barrels into Layne Morgan, using her raw power to crash over. You can also view her other try from this game, or her sensational crash-ball quick tap try against the Black Ferns, if you want more examples of her explosive running. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that, above all, she’s a hard-carrying number 8. Remember the pleasant surprise of Sergio Parisse making hard yards when you were expecting him to randomly launch a spiral bomb? It’s pretty much the same principle.
Sophie De Goede’s skillset is an ecosystem which constantly feeds itself. You can rinse and repeat these three examples in any order, as each one of these skills contributes to the other two working so effectively. As Canada’s captain, goal kicker, main distributor, lead lineout option, top carrier and defensive leader, she’s the full package. It’s reassuring for us to tell ourselves that nobody’s perfect, but I challenge you to find something Sophie De Goede is bad at on a rugby pitch.
Comments on RugbyPass
Yes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
2 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
2 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
2 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
2 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
5 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
33 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to comments