“I’ve never heard of a team with a winning streak that doesn’t come to an end.”

Her side are amateurs playing against a professional outfit. They have never beaten England at a World Cup.

Canada suffered a 51-12 defeat to the Red Roses a year ago – England’s 17th win in a record run that has now hit 29 Tests.

The way De Goede sees it, all that adversity might just be what pushes her side over the line.

“We all understand some of the hurdles that each of us has had to jump,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“For some of us, it’s leaving family to go overseas to play rugby. For other people, it’s staying at home working so they can have an income to afford to play rugby when we go on tours.

“They’re up at 5am to go to the gym then straight to training after work so they’re gone until 9.15pm.

“Knowing it means so much to each person, otherwise we wouldn’t put ourselves through that, brings us closer together.

“We all believe in each other. England is a formidable team. The pressure is on them. We’re probably the only people that truly believe we can pull off that upset.”

Does it matter if England are ‘boring’?

England have rampaged their way to the semi-finals, claiming record wins along the way and averaging more points than any other team in the tournament.

They have been the number one side in the world since November 2020 and have not lost a game since July 2019.

England’s dominance has been so great that the only critique anyone can make is whether their main try-scoring method is a little too successful.

The Red Roses’ forwards have scored 24 of the side’s 35 tries in the tournament so far. Twenty-three of those have come from a line-out that no team has found a way to stop.

Kat Merchant, who helped England beat Canada in the 2014 World Cup, told Rugby Union Daily: “In a World Cup, you play to win – even if people call it boring.”

Canada’s pack has been performing too. They have won 100% of their scrums in three of their four games in New Zealand and, on average, have stolen two line-outs per game.

Head coach Kevin Rouet has bolstered that even further by naming seven forwards and just one back on the bench for the semi-final.

England head coach Simon Middleton is wary, expecting “a very physical game” and “a tough set-piece battle”.

‘New Zealand can only score with their backs’

While England’s forwards have firmly secured their place as the most dominant pack in the tournament, the Red Roses backs had little chance to shine in wet quarter-final conditions against Australia.

Middleton has stuck with relative newcomer Tatyana Heard at inside centre, while Claudia MacDonald returns on the wing after recovering from a calf strain.

Scrum-half Lucy Packer, named on the bench for Saturday, had a scan on a possible ankle injury on Thursday but England are yet to provide an update on whether she will be fit to play.

Leanne Infante will start at nine and MacDonald is the only other player brought to provide scrum-half cover so Middleton, who confirmed it was too late to bring out any more players for the final, will have to shuffle his backline if Packer is unavailable.

Whoever is out there, Merchant is expecting a “brutal” test for England’s backs after watching Canada’s quarter-final against the United States.

“The wings were absolutely smashing each other,” she said,

“Both teams get it wide but the shots that were going in were very impressive. This is a Canada side that has great stats for their set-piece but they do unleash their backs.”

Should England win, a final against hosts and holders New Zealand or France will await on 12 November.

Unlike others, Middleton was reluctant to look any further ahead than this Saturday, but amid questions over his reliance on the forwards he did find time for one shot at England’s possible opponents.

“We know what our game looks like,” he said.

“We’re confident we’ve got whatever game we need to get in the performance we want.

“I think New Zealand have got a bigger problem because they can only score with their backs, but nobody is making a fuss about that.”