The 2024 WXV1 title will be decided this weekend, as the number one and two ranked women’s teams in the world face off with the trophy on the line. England take on Canada, with the Maple Leaves backed by a home crowd in Vancouver’s BC Place stadium. However, one key asset the Canadians will be without, is their superstar back-row Sophie de Goede.
The number eight has been out of action since the end of the 2023/24 season, after suffering an unfortunate ACL injury. The Saracen was set to compete for Canada in Paris, as part of the Rugby Sevens squad for the 2024 Olympic Games. Whilst Canada were still able to bring back silver medals from the French capital, de Goede’s absence will be missed in their WXV decider against England.
Red Roses fly half Holly Aitchison has called de Goede’s injury ‘a monumental miss’ for her opponents, as the former Saracen knows all too well the skillset that the back row brings to the fray. Speaking in a recent England media session, from her team base in Vancouver, Aitchison addressed this weekend’s key vacancy.
“I think a monumental miss. From playing with Sophie during my time at Sarries, I can speak, and like the majority of squad, would echo this, she is absolutely world class. I think, it’s an awful shame the rate of ACL (injuries) that we have in the game, something that’s also with women’s football, and it is a shame that they will will miss her.
“I think, obviously they’ve got loads of other threats on the pitch, like she’s not a ‘one man team’, and they’re (England) well aware of that. So it’s good that they’ll have someone that can come into her shoes and kind of try and do that role, but she is obviously exceptional. So, I can imagine she’ll be a big miss for them.”
An element of WXV that has garnered some unwanted attention, are the underwhelming crowds for the fixtures in Canada. Due to their status as the number one ranked women’s team in world rugby, the Red Roses are now used to packing out Premiership stadiums, and playing in front of 50,000 fans at the Allianz.
Aitchison echoed the thoughts of her England teammate Amy Cokayne, in how Canada need to be given some time to grow their market for women’s rugby. However, with the WXV title on the line in the battle between the world’s best women’s sides, Aitchison is hoping for a bigger crowd, albeit with the expectedly heavy Canadian backing.
“Hopefully. I mean, obviously it’s Canada In Canada, so that’ll be a really cool occasion, not only for us, but for them. I think obviously rugby’s in a position here (Canada) where it’s not a main sport, and they are in the infancy of their crowds. You have to have an appreciation for that, like we were there a couple of years ago, where you’re just kind of opening yourself up to a new market.
“So I’m sure there’ll be hoping for a big crowd. Obviously, on home soil, it’s the final game of WXV, and I think we’ve been lucky enough to have those groundbreaking crowds at home, so we’ll be well equipped for that. But, I think it’ll just be a really good occasion for all involved.”
This fixture comes a decade after England and Canada met in the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup Final. From the Red Roses squad that were crowned world champions, only England skipper Marlie Packer, vice-captain Natasha Hunt, Emily Scarratt and Alex Matthews are still playing, with all four named in the match day squad for this finale.
Aitchison expressed how despite having the quartet in their ranks, they have not been thinking much about the heroics of 10 years ago, with all their focus upon the here and now, with the Red Roses firmly in a new era.
“It’s interesting. We haven’t spoken about that, and I didn’t actually think about that at all. Those guys are kind of keep pretty much to themselves with stuff like that. I think obviously we’ve gone into a new generation. There’s things that you take from that long ago, but the game’s moved on massively.
“So I think, there’s always experience and and they’ll have that, but I think also we have moved forward since then. We don’t really speak about stuff like that anymore.”
England’s decisive match sees them look to retain their WXV crown, after they won the inaugural title a year ago in New Zealand. The Red Roses kick off against Canada at 03:00am UK time, with a live stream shown on the BBC IPlayer. So be sure to set your alarms to catch all the action from Vancouver.
