Canada captain loses sleep over England World Cup final — SkimNews
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- Sophie de Goede says she cannot fall asleep 'four to five nights a week' almost a year after Canada lost the Women's Rugby World Cup final to England.
- Canada, ranked third in the world, face world champions England this Saturday at Sandy Park in Exeter, with head coach Kevin Rouet playing down a revenge narrative as 'a good brand.'
- England are scheduled to play New Zealand at Allianz Stadium next, followed by two tests against Canada in Toronto and Ottawa — their toughest successive opposition in recent women's history.
- John Mitchell called the fixtures an 'audition' for the 2029 World Cup and said he wants to see how Red Roses players 'handle pressure' on the road.
- Canada's programme leans heavily on England's PWR league — 25 Canadians currently play in PWR, and the Canadian coaching staff includes Kevin Rouet and Alex Austerberry (Saracens Women) and Nathan Smith (Loughborough Lightning).
- PWR will from 2027-28 scrap club injury credit except for injuries sustained on international duty, and any EQP player captured by another union will lose EQP status at season's end.
- Mitchell has lobbied to raise PWR minutes for English Qualified Players, arguing 1,000 PWR minutes per season gives 'a higher probability' of playing for the Red Roses — a threshold he says young English players aged 21-23 are currently not hitting.
Why it matters: The Canada-England rematch exposes the structural reality of women's international rugby: Canada fields a squad almost entirely developed in England's domestic PWR league because it lacks a comparable domestic competition. PWR's 2027-28 rule changes — scrapping club injury credit outside international duty and restricting EQP portability — will reshape which nations can afford to sign foreign talent, directly affecting England's 2029 World Cup build.
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