Captain Sophie de Goede of Victoria showed why she is the reigning World Rugby women’s player of the year by scoring two tries and kicking three converts for a towering 16-point performance in Canada’s 31-22 Test victory over England in front of 13,117 fans Friday evening at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa.
It was Canada’s second consecutive victory on home turf over the defending World Cup champions following last week’s 24-21 win at BMO Field in Toronto before a Canadian women’s rugby record crowd of 18,621 that halted the Red Roses’ 41-game unbeaten streak dating to 2022.
“I am immensely proud, it’s so special for us to do it on home soil,” de Goede said in a statement. “The crowds have been incredible and I’m very proud of our team and very proud of the showing that we had as Canadian fans,” added the graduate of the Oak Bay High School, James Bay and Castaway Wanderers programs.
“Within our team, we’ve talked about it a lot — backing up a great performance with another one. So to be able to have such a strong performance this weekend is definitely something we’ll hold onto until we come back together again.”
Canada also played to a 26-26 draw against England last month in Exeter in the WXV Global Series tournament that halted the world No. 1 side’s 39-game winning streak, which became England’s 41-game unbeaten run, until last week in Toronto. Included in England’s run was the 33-13 win over Canada in the 2025 World Cup championship game before nearly 82,000 fans at Twickenham in London.
De Goede knew England would be motivated and energized in Ottawa but the Canadians absorbed those emotions and threw it right back at the Red Roses.
“We built some confidence last week [in Toronto] and we knew that we could manage England, having had positive momentum, and find a way to regain it,” said the Islander.
As in the match in Toronto, the Canadians rallied from a second-half deficit in Ottawa. Also scoring tries for Canada were Julia Omokhuale and DeLeaka Menin while one of de Goede’s tries was assisted by fellow Oak Bay Castaway Wanderers product Gabrielle Senft.
“We had to get back momentum in the second half and we just talked about weathering the storm and we knew we would come out of it,” said de Goede, adding that the results against England are a big boost on the road to the next World Cup in 2029 in Australia.
Before that will be the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in sevens rugby, of which de Goede plans to be a part, after the palpable disappointment of missing Canada’s run to the silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics with a torn ACL.
Langford-based Rugby Canada continued showing its program versatility on the women’s side with five players from the 2024 Paris Olympics silver-medallist sevens team involved Friday in Ottawa with the XVs team versus England — starters Asia Hogan-Rochester out of Westshore RFC, Olivia Apps, Florence Symonds, Alysha Corrigan with Caroline Crossley of Victoria off the bench in her return from long-term injury.
“We still have lots of new players coming into the environment during the cycle which is positive for our future, if we want to be ready for the World Cup in 2029,” said Canada head coach Kevin Rouet.
Meanwhile, looking back the other way is the currently-streaming Crave documentary series, All Heart: A Rugby Story, about de Goede and her play in leading Canada to the 2025 World Cup championship game.