Sophie De Goede: The best player in the world plays in the PWR

The best player in the world plays in the best league in the world. 

That fact was confirmed when Sophie de Goede was named World Rugby’s Women’s 15’s Player of the Year 2025 after the World Cup final. 

The Saracens back row, who played the entirety of Canada’s World Cup campaign at lock, and also takes the kicks, won the award having previously been nominated in 2022. 

She follows Harlequins’ Ellie Kildunne and Sarries teammate Marlie Packer in the list of winners, as the award stays in the PWR for another season. 

It was a bittersweet moment for De Goede to receive her honours, having just lost 33-13 to England in the final. 

Despite the tears and the sadness for the Victoria native and her teammates, they hoisted her up and lifted her to the sky, in an all too similar way to how she has raised her team up in recent years.

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"It just shows the unity and joy and love that the team has for each other,” she said. “It's just a privilege for me to get to play with these women and I look forward to continue doing that." 

"I grew up in the rugby community with my parents being involved so playing rugby for Canada means everything to me.  

“It's been my lifelong dream, and getting to this game has been a lifelong dream, and winning the World Cup is a dream I will keep chasing moving forward." 

De Goede is one of nine PWR players to have been named to the World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year for 2025, doing so having only returned from an ACL injury in July. 

Her clubmate Zoe Harrison is among the seven England players to be selected, while Exeter Chiefs’ Emily Tuttosi is the other Canadian in the XV.

De Goede's strengths are also Canada's, with her ability to turn to defence into electric attack matched by those around her.

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For Maple Leafs captain Alex Tessier, herself a Women’s Player of the Year nominee in 2024, De Goede is not an outlier in the Canada team. 

Tessier said: “She is an amazing player, she has demonstrated that she can do it all, she can kick, she can find gaps, she can create stuff out of nothing. 

“She expresses herself, it is very nice to see her on the field on attack, especially when she just does what she wants, she follows her instincts so much and it is inspiring for a lot of us. 

“A lot of the girls do look up to her so we are very pleased for her after this whole year of hardship. 

“But in the strength of our team, we have more than one Sophie de Goede, we have many incredible talented rugby players.

"We are very intentional and very smart in what we do and at the end of the day, our collective is what our strength is and because we have such a good collective so players like Sophie can do what they do best which is being themselves, just showcasing it every weekend.”