Sophie de Goede: Hosting WXV can ‘catapult’ Canada into new era

Canada captain Sophie de Goede believes staging the second edition of WXV 1 in British Columbia can help launch the women’s game “into a different stratosphere” in North America.

World Rugby announced on Wednesday that Canada had been chosen as hosts of the top level of WXV 2024 this September and October, with select matches to be played at BC Place in Vancouver.

Rugby Canada previously hosted two rounds of the World Rugby Pacific Four Series (PAC4) in Ottawa last July, drawing a national record attendance for a women’s game of 10,092 to the hosts’ encounter with the Black Ferns at TD Place.

Canada finished that tournament second, a result they subsequently repeated at the inaugural WXV 1 in New Zealand four months later, and the team has consistently outperformed its amateur status.

De Goede also led her country to the Women’s Rugby World Cup semi-finals in 2022, the only non-professional side to reach the last four, where they ran England close before losing the bronze final to France.

And De Goede is hopeful that playing on home soil during WXV 1 2024 will help the team connect with a new generation of rugby fans in Canada, as they did in Ottawa last year.

“It's massive,” De Goede told RugbyPass about taking WXV to British Columbia. “We hosted PAC4 last year and had our best turnout ever for a women's rugby game, over 10,000 in TD place in Ottawa.

“That was such a special feeling and there were so many young kids in the crowd, boys and girls, that we had been able to meet with and play with throughout the week in different community events and then showed up to the game to watch us play New Zealand.

“Unfortunately, we lost that game (52-21), so that was frustrating. But afterwards, just seeing the amount of kids that were there, and that I think had really fallen in love with the sport over the period of time that we were in Ottawa, was incredible.

“And it goes back to the ultimate goal, which is the growth of the game in North America. To be able to host an incredibly important tournament like WXV in our home nation and try to really catapult the game into a different stratosphere here in North America, like it is in the rest of the globe, would be the ultimate prize.

“So, hopefully we can set another record-breaking crowd and win the game and give them something more to cheer about in BC place. So, yeah, there's no other word really than special and I feel incredibly fortunate that we get this opportunity.”

De Goede got a taste of the BC Place atmosphere as she helped Canada to a bronze medal at HSBC SVNS Vancouver last weekend.

“It was incredible,” she added. “I'm from Vancouver Island, just a ferry ride away, so for me personally, there was a ton of friends and family there to watch that go every year regardless. So, it was nice that I could be playing in front of them.

“And then for the whole team, [the crowd] gave us so much energy and we had a couple tight games, especially in the quarters, semis, bronze [final], so it was really good to have their energy behind us.”

It is clear, though, that leading the Test team into the iconic indoor stadium later this year would mean even more to the Saracens number eight.

“In Ottawa that was one of the most emotional anthems and lead-outs that I've ever experienced,” De Goede explained.

“Almost equal to the World Cup that I went to, just because of looking into the crowd and seeing so many familiar faces and also just seeing the crowd awash with red.

“So, I can't even imagine doing that in Vancouver even closer to home for me and again, an important tournament – basically a mini-World Cup in WXV. So, really, I can't even imagine and hopefully that moment will come, and I'll just be able to soak it in.”

De Goede was speaking from Los Angeles, where she is set to compete in the fifth leg of HSBC SVNS 2024 with Canada this weekend.

She is currently in the midst of a gruelling few months which, should everything go according to the “rough” plan, will see her juggle SVNS, PAC4 and Premiership Women’s Rugby commitments before becoming an Olympian at Paris 2024.

“My ultimate goal is to grow rugby in Canada, especially women's rugby and so I want to take as many involvements as I can that will help achieve that goal,” De Goede said.

“That's why it was a no-brainer. If the opportunity is there and if the teams need me then I want to do both (sevens and 15s).

“The more I get used to bouncing back between the two, I think the easier it should become.

“It's still definitely a challenge, but it's about figuring out, ‘OK, what are the three to five things that I need to focus on in the first couple of weeks of being back that will make the biggest difference in fine tuning me’.”

On the prospect of representing Canada at Paris 2024, De Goede added: “It would be a dream come true.

“I was really fortunate to grow up understanding what a World Cup is but most North Americans don't, and the Olympics is the ultimate pinnacle for us.

“And so, as a kid, I always wanted to be able to go to the Olympics, in all the different sports I played, and that wasn't really an option with rugby until we got reintroduced in the 2016 Olympics.

“Since then, it's like, well, that would be a huge goal and dream to achieve. So, you know, it would be an honour but there's a long way to go before that decision is made and I'm just trying to take it day by day.”