Hans DeGoede is the greatest Canadian rugby player of his time, one of the greatest Canadian rugby players of all time, and, indeed, one of the best in the world during his prime. Hans was a star of Canada's national team from 1974 to 1987 and the captain of the national side for most of those years. His career saw him picked to the All-World XV in 1976 and 1980. This is nothing short of astonishing for a Canadian player. De Goede had hand and foot skills, learned from his years of junior football with the Victoria Dolphins, early soccer years and his basketball days at Central Junior High and Victoria High Schools. He quit basketball after Grade 11 and switched to the rugby team, leading Vic High to the final of the Howard Russell Cup in 1971. Even before he was out of school, he had made the James Bay Athletic Association Division I team in the Vancouver Island Rugby Union, the Victoria team he would lead to greatness from 1971 onward.

The James Bay Athletic Association rugby teams in the 1970's and early 1980's were arguably the best Canadian rugby club teams ever and they may be fairly regarded as a dynasty. The JBAA won seven consecutive Rounsefell cup titles, emblematic of the B.C. Division I club championship, from 1973 to 1980, and eight Rounsefell cup titles in nine years from 1973 to 1982. There is no question that the JBBA was the best team in Canada during this time. Indeed most of the Canadian national rugby team of the time was made up of players from the JBBA including - K. C. Walt, Gary Johnston, Ray Rogers, Hans de Goede, Roy McInnes, Mick Eckardt, Chuck Shergold, Ken Wilkie and Darryl Noullette.