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How Canada's 2014 final loss to England inspired Sophie de Goede to switch from basketball

By Adam Julian
(Photo by Greg Bowker/Getty Images)

Sophie de Goede was possibly preordained to captain Canada. Her mother Stephanie, a flanker, was captain of the first Canadian women’s team that played the USA on November 14, 1987.

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Just months earlier Sophie’s father Hans de Goede, a lock, was captain of Canada at the inaugural men’s World Cup in New Zealand.

In 2015 her sister Thyssen de Goede played two tests for Canada and has been a fixture in the World Sevens Series while brothers Tyson and Jack were also talented players but succumbed to injury.

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Sophie was more smitten with volleyball and basketball as a teenager, but rugby was never far away from her heart. In 2014 she attended the World Cup final between England and Canada in France, a formative experience.

“I remember pretty much all of it. We were holidaying in Amsterdam where my dad was born,” De Goede told RugbyPass.

“We travelled on a slow bus through Belgium and got nice tickets sitting with dignitaries because of Dad’s connections. I was super excited.

“Canada didn’t win the game, which was disappointing, but they were such an inspiring team. I’ve still got pictures on my phone from that night.”

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In 2016 De Goede was named Canada Young Female Player of the Year but at Queen’s University in Victoria, where she studied commerce, basketball was just as much of a priority.

The National targeted athlete spent five years as a forward on the Gales team and helped them to a third place finish at the National U Sports Final 8 tournament in 2021/22.

“There are a lot of transferable skills from basketball to rugby,” she said of her switch.

“Hand-eye coordination for sure, acceleration through close quarters, looking to finish with your hands, offloading to space in between defenders and the mental side is challenging working with different positions and teams in rosters.”

Twice with De Goede leading the charge, Queen’s University were National University Rugby champions. In 2019 she was top try scorer, national MVP, and made her Test debut for Canada against the Black Ferns in the Super Series in San Diego.

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“That was an amazing occasion and a competitive match, a step up from anything I’ve experienced before. International rugby even despite Covid has accelerated very quickly. The attack is more varied, the kicking games are better and there is a good mix of skills throughout the different positions,” De Goede said.

In 2020 De Goede signed with Saracens to compete in the world leading Allianz Cup in England.

She won player of the match against the Loughborough Lightning in the semi-finals but unfortunately Saracens fell to Harlequins 25-17 in the final with England hooker Amy Cockayne scoring two tries. Still, Saracens had a good season with 16 wins in 20 games.

The Pacific Four Series in New Zealand in June 2022 was a landmark occasion, the first quartet tourney of any kind for the competing nations since the outbreak of Covid in 2019.

Canada was in the fight in the first half against the Black Ferns, trailing 6-0 at halftime before losing 28-0. Impressive victories were scored against USA (36-5) and Australia (22-10) with De Goede named player of the match in both successes.

The ultimate compliment for De Goede arrived in July when she was appointed captain of Canada for a Test against Italy at Starlight Stadium in Victoria, her home field. She scored a try in a 34-24 win.

De Goede has been in special form at the World Cup guiding Canada to the semi-finals, and nine wins in their last ten Tests. She is the leading ball carrier in the tournament with 72 in four matches and has emerged as a capable goal kicker, slotting seven conversions and two penalties.

She was named Player of the Match in Canada’s 22-10 victory over Italy in their second pool match in Waitakere.

“Italy is a dangerous team. They navigate between structured and unstructured play quickly. They can run around you or go through you. They can offload in contact and have threats everywhere, so you must be detailed to unpick them.”

In the past fortnight Canada have toppled the USA 29-14 in the last group game and 32-11 in the quarter final. Canada have won seven consecutive matches against the Eagles to improve their record to a 23-19 advantage in their most common rivalry.

“We know that every time we play against the USA, it’s going to be super physical, they’re going to come out to play. So special having to do it back-to-back weekends. We know it’s going to be super tough and we’re proud that we were able to get the wins.”

In the semis Canada will face England at Eden Park who have won a world record 29 Tests in a row but De Goede is adamant Canada will not submit meekly.

“They have a really good kicking game, some incredible ball carriers, and tactical awareness. Their game management is a strength of theirs so, we’ll need to do a ton of analysis not on the individual players, but how they play collectively,” she said.

“Everyone’s human. There are no machine robots out there playing. We’ll do our best to give them a run for their money.”

De Goede will have plenty of support. Hooker Emily Tuttosi is the leading forward try scorer at the tournament with six; wing Paige Farries has been elusive and fellow loosie Karen Paquin a bundle of energy and aggression. De Goede has a holistic approach to leadership.

“It doesn’t take much to motivate this squad, but you still must appreciate everyone is different. What you say to one person might not work for the other. Leadership is about understanding what makes people tick and letting them find their groove.

“The more experienced players are a huge help. In terms of game management, who I lean on for support depends on who’s playing, but I’ve got a lot of support.”

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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