Sophie de Goede in Contention for World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year – A Look Back on Rugby Career 2015 to Present
Sophie de Goede is one of three players nominated for the World Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year award. The Canadian Press article by Neil Davidson is posted below. We went through our BCRN articles back to 2015 when Sophie was still in high school. During that time period she not only played for her high school but was also playing regionally for the Vancouver Island Crimson Tide team, the BC age-grade teams and the Canada Development team.
In both 2015 and 2016 Sophie was selected for the BC U18 7s team and one of her teammates was Mackenzie Carson who currently plays prop for England, the team Canada will face in the World Cup final this weekend. It’s an unlikely scenario that 10 years later they would meet at a Rugby World Cup, one now a prop and the other a second row but in 2015 both were playing rep rugby for BC in 7s. Sophie went to Oak Bay high school and Mackenzie went to Yale Secondary in Abbotsford. Another teammate from 2016 was Shalaya Valenzuela, also from Abbotsford, and now a member of the Canada 7s team. The coach of that 2016 team was Darcy Patterson who still is one of the top development coaches in BC and Canada.
Another interesting story from 2016, Sophie’s high school team, Oak Bay, were ranked 15th going into the BC Provincial 7s high school tournament. They were ranked 3rd on the Island having lost to #1 Brentwood in the Island tournament and barely made the Provincials. Their two ‘Canada Development’ players, Sophie de Goede and Caroline Crossley, returned for the Provincial tournament and Oak Bay went from 15th ranked to winning the tournament.
In 2016 Sophie was also playing for the senior women’s 7s team at the Rugby Americas North (RAN) tournament. Also on that team Pam Buisa, Caroline Crossley, Olivia Apps, Breanne Nicholas. In the fall of 2016 she was named to the list of ‘centralized’ players for the 2016/17 Canada 7s season under coach John Tait, also on that list were veterans like Jen Kish, Ghislaine Landry, Bianca Farella.
It wasn’t just 7s though, in 2016 Sophie was part of the Canada U18 XVs team that travelled to England for two matches against England U18. Also on that team Taylor Black (Perry) and Mackenzie Carson.
In 2017 Sophie continued to rep the Maple Leaf 7s, the development team, as they won the Vancouver Rugby Festival which included development teams from USA and South Africa. Also in 2017 she was part of Canada’s 7s team at the Youth Commonwealth Games. Canada won silver behind Australia. Also on that team Taylor Black (Perry) and Keyara Wardley.
In 2018 it was back to XVs repping the Vancouver Island Crimson Tide in regional rugby alongside Tyson Beukeboom. She was invited to the national west camp and the national coach at the time was Sandro Fiorino. Also at that west camp were Mackenzie Carson, Karen Paquin, Tyson Beukeboom, Gillian Boag, Paige Farries, Fabiola Forteza, Daleaka Menin, Gabrielle Senft, Rori Wood, Emily Tuttosi to name a few. She represented BC at the Canadian Rugby XVs Championship that year along with Tyson Beukeboom, Gabrielle Senft, Gillian Boag. Also in 2018 she was captaining the Canada U20 team and scored 4 tries at #8 in their win over USA. Teammates on that U20 team, Mackenzie Carson #2, Abby Duguid #4, Courtenay Holtkamp (O’Donnell) #7, Asia Hogan (Rochester) #11. Coach of that team was Jack Hanratty, who went on to become the Olympic silver medal winning 7s coach.
In 2019 it was more Canada U20 and regional rugby with the Vancouver Island Crimson Tide. She was also named to the senior women’s team for the Super Series in San Diego against NZ, England, France, USA. There are 13 players on the Canadian team at the World Cup who were on that 2019 team.
By 2020 she was with the Saracens in the English Premier and the rest of the story is well known as she continued to represent Canada in XVs and 7s as well as play professionally in England. She managed to squeeze in a degree at Queen’s and helped them win the 2021 National University Championship while being named tournament MVP.
Canadian forward Sophie de Goede, who has been an impact player at the Women’s World Cup in her return from knee surgery, is a finalist for World Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year.
The 26-year-old forward from Victoria is up against England’s Megan Jones and New Zealand’s Jorja Miller.
The Canadian vice-captain was also nominated for the award in 2022. Canada captain Alex Tessier was a nominee last year.
Going into Saturday’s final against top-ranked England, de Goede leads the Women’s World Cup in carries, offloads and lineout takes.
De Goede, who doubles as goal-kicker, has also scored 55 points for second-ranked Canada.
With six conversions in Canada’s 42-0 win over No. 12 Wales in Pool B play Aug. 30, de Goede became the all-time leading scorer in Canadian women’s rugby history with 262 points.
She has since added six points (three conversions) in the final 40-19 group game win over No. 6 Scotland, 13 points (one try, four conversions) in the 46-5 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Australia and 14 points (a try, three conversions and a penalty goal) in the 34-19 semifinal win over No. 3 New Zealand.
The performances are all the more impressive given de Goede only returned to action in July after being sidelined for 13 months following knee surgery.
De Goede tore her anterior cruciate ligament on June 21, 2024, in a non-contact scrimmage against the United States on the last day of a Canada sevens camp in Chula Vista, Calif. Prior to making her return in a 22-minute cameo off the bench July 12 against South Africa, her last game was May 19, 2024, when Canada defeated defending World Cup champion New Zealand 22-19 in the Pacific Four Series finale.
Miller is also nominated for Women’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year, along with New Zealand teammate Braxton Sorensen-McGee and Fiji’s Josifini Neihamu.
De Goede, who plays her club rugby for England’s Saracens, is normally a backrower but has shifted to lock at the World Cup because Canada’ has more options in the back row than the second row.
A powerful forward, the six-footer is an effective ball-carrier and punishing tackler. The statistics demonstrate her dominance at the World Cup.
She led Canada in carries (17) and successful tackles (19) against New Zealand. And going into the semifinal, de Goede had recorded more carries (67), offloads (11) and lineout takes (26, including two steals) than any other player at the tournament. She was also the top try assister among forwards (four).
At Saracens, she plays alongside fellow Canadians Alysha Corrigan, Fancy Bermudez, Gabby Senft, Laetitia Royer, Maya Montiel, McKinley Hunt, Julie Omokhuale and Paige Farries.
De Goede, who played both rugby and basketball at Queen’s University, comes from Canadian rugby royalty.
Father Hans de Goede, who captained Canada at the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, was a force to be reckoned with — a hard man who picked up some extra cash in “So You Think You’re Tough?” boxing tournaments.
De Goede’s mother, Stephanie White, was the first Canadian women’s captain in 1987 and represented Canada for 10 years.
Sophie’s older brother Thyssen has also represented Canada.
“I think a lot of kids maybe would come home to cartoons or hockey or something on the TV. I’m really lucky that I would come home to international test matches that had been taped and were ready to watch,” Sophie told The Canadian Press in a 2022 interview. “We were at the James Bay (Athletic Association) clubhouse every weekend growing up. I played mini (rugby) at the Castaways club. So it was always rugby on the weekend and often rugby on the weeknights.
“If we didn’t want to go to rugby, I was definitely not forced to. But just growing up with it I kind of fell in love with it.”
Sophie de Goede captained Canada prior to her injury, with Tessier taking over while she was sidelined. Canada coach Kevin Rouet opted to retain Tessier as skipper upon de Goede’s return to allow de Goede to focus on her game.
But she and veteran Tyson Beukeboom serve as vice-captains, providing leadership in the forwards.
The nominees for both World Rugby awards were selected by a panel of former players and experts — Fiona Coghlan, Lena Corson, Abby Gustaitis, Shannon Parry, Melodie Robinson, Danielle Waterman and Canadian Heather Moyse.
The award winners — including top coach, referee, 15s Dream Team of the Year and Women’s Try of the Year — will be announced next weekend at the World Cup final at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium in England.
Canada’s Rouet is expected to be a contender for Coach of the Year.