Simon Middleton believes that “nerves” played a part in another slow start for England as the Red Roses thrashed South Africa to cruise into the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.
Hat-tricks from Rosie Galligan and Connie Powell ensured that England overcame a shaky opening quarter to power away from their opponents with their forwards again to the fore, with Middleton’s side advancing to the quarter-finals as the third seed.
It was a much-changed starting line-up named by the England head coach, who had spoken in the week of an eagerness to give some of the fringe members of his 32-player squad a World Cup experience. Middleton believes that the opening 20 minutes perhaps reflected a group over-anxious to impress, with a number of new combinations taking time to bed in before finding greater fluency later.
“[I think it was] nerves,” Middleton explained of a slightly inaccurate start. “They wanted to play so well and they wanted to play so much – there were 13 players who have never played in a World Cup and I think they went at it with not enough thought.
“We just tried a bit hard at the start. We settled down really well and took control of the game and I think they showed what they are about as a group.”
Middleton was keen to stress after a 28th consecutive win that he felt his side receive undue criticism, but it is reflective both of the Red Roses’ dominance and the high standards they set for themselves. England have said they are striving for somewhere near perfection each time they play but there is little doubt that they have been below their best in the opening quarter against both Fiji and South Africa.
In the final accounting it counted for little, with England able to find their stride and open their advantage, as they did against Fiji. But as his side go deeper into the tournament, Middleton will know that first quarter improvements must be made – with a fast-starting Australian side in the last eight the Red Roses’ opening knockout test.
“I think you have got to set your stall out to start well in every game,” Middleton said. “Today we came out of the blocks alright, we just didn’t execute.
“We had plenty of opportunities but we didn’t get anything off the back of them because we just made too many errors. That’s not a criticism of the side – that is a very young side that has never played together before in a massively pressurised game which we had to win. They learned as they went.”
However impressive the final scoreline at Waitakere Stadium, Middleton is all but certain to now return to his established first-choice side for the knockout rounds. Both Vickii Cornborough and Emily Scarratt are set to be fit for the quarter-final after precautionary withdrawals from the final pool fixture, while it is hoped that Lark Davies may feature for the first time at the tournament – which may force Connie Powell out of the matchday 23 despite the hooker’s hat-trick.
The relative dearth of cross-hemisphere fixtures in women’s rugby, exacerbated by the pandemic, means that England have not faced Australia in more than five years, which provides a degree of novelty to a classic sporting rivalry. While the sense is that England may have widened the gap to the Wallaroos in the intervening period since that 53-10 win in Wellington, Middleton has been impressed by their performances at the tournament and has already begun to analyse the different threats that Jay Tregonning will pose.
“Everything is on the line now – one defeat and you are on the plane home,” Middleton acknowledged of the ramping up of pressure. “We have got a great draw.
“It is not very often you get to play Southern Hemisphere sides and we haven’t played Australia since 2017. [Australia] came out the blocks [against New Zealand] – that’s the threat that they have got.
“They have some fantastic players, they know how to shift the ball around and you can really see that sevens influence they have. They have been going well so it will be a different challenge for us.”
