Question: does Simon Middleton need his strongest possible side out to face France?
Yes:
A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam and not to be taken lightly.
Rankings are at stake. England sit a proud top; they don’t want to see the gap between them and the chasers narrow by even a decimal pointlet.
A double-figure run of success against their great rivals would be another serious landmark in English progress.
Never before has a 6N side taken full (bonus) points from a championship involving three away games; that would be an achievement and a half.
There is such a thing as pride in performance; every game matters.
Then in a more muted key:
No:
Only the World Cup matters; the Red Roses will probably meet France twice, in the pool stages, then in the knock-outs. Those are the games that have to be won.
If the Red Roses lost, it would sharpen their minds for the contests still to come, the ones that really matter.
Policies and Attitudes
It has been noticeable over recent seasons how willing Middleton has been to throw a new player into the cauldron of affairs, telling her he has full confidence in her abilities.
It happened strikingly in Pau in 2020 as he sent Amelia Harper on as the battle raged; and again last autumn when Maud Muir entered the field at Sandy Park against the world champions.
The reverse of that coin is the effect on senior players: they know they cannot expect a nod in their direction just because of past achievements.
The medical experts will still be checking over the walking (and hobbling) wounded. The known sufferers from Sunday’s encounter with the Irish are Sarah Hunter (ribs), Poppy Cleall (leg injury) and Jess Breach (a gash to the head). The skipper has already had to cry off.
If Cleall was also unavailable on Saturday, that would present a nice problem for the No 8 position. But such is the strength of the English player-pool that quality candidates still line up around the block, Alex Matthews, Sarah Beckett and Harriet Millar-Mills for starters. And even Marlie Packer has played there this season for Saracens. Abbie Ward and Zoe Aldcroft might still have aspirations to return to the position they occupied in their youth.
It’s just possible that Middleton and very few others know the precise arrangements for the summer. That would help sort out the number of times each player could hope to get valuable onfield time in the run-up to the Big Event.
