1. Canada are tough opponents
2. Final matches are rarely one way
3. England’s game-plan remains unclear
In more detail
John Mitchell set out his strategy for the Red Roses after acting as an observer during Louis Deacon’s term as interim chief. He wanted to see a more expansive approach adopted, with less emphasis on forward domination.
All England’s one-way wins since then, the 2024 Six Nations and beyond, have been ascribed to the rightness of his thinking. That conveniently ignores the evidence of the previous few years. The deadly back-three trio of Abby Dow, Ellie Kildunne and Jess Breach (not forgetting Lydia Thompson and Claudia Macdonald) didn’t suddenly start scoring packets of tries with him in charge.
And how did Deacon, a forwards’ specialist, react to that change of emphasis? He is a modest, self-effacing individual. If he harboured doubts, he kept them to himself. Why overlook a highly skilled sector of the game, forward power in all its facets?
That Canada match in Vancouver
In bald figures, England scored three tries through their pack (Maud Muir, Sarah Bern and Zoe Aldcroft); Canada two through their backs (Justine Pelletier and Alex Tessier). Helena Rowland answered a constant (and unjustified) criticism of English kicking skills by converting 3/3, matching Tessier’s 2/2.
Aldcroft’s 80th minute try at last made the game safe – compare Emily Scarratt’s decisive score the last time England won the World Cup (scores 21-9, 21-12).
So on the surface, Mitchell’s free-wheeling game-plan came unstuck. He said post-match: “They [the Canadians] beat us to the race early in the match. I think we won ugly tonight, but sometimes you have to do that; it was a proper Test match.” He hadn’t made an admission of that sort before.
A much more surprising statement: “We will just look to score more if people score against us.” That used to be known as the West Ham approach: ‘You score three goals; we’ll score four.’ One of the Red Roses’ great strengths in recent years has been the opposition’s difficulty in compiling points. I hope Sarah Hunter, the defence coach, didn’t feel condemned.
Coming clean
I have to admit I find John Mitchell’s reign as England’s head coach less than ideal.
When he took over, he was pleased to say the team was good; he wanted to make it great. That is an astonishing statement to make for a group that had won 30 games on the trot under the guidance of Simon Middleton. It was all too redolent of MAGA.
And why did he bother to apply for the job? He felt he owed it to himself to put his name forward.
Why? What reward whould there be for an ex-All Blacks coach taking on the most successful team in the world at the age of 59?
I assume he felt it vital to present a contrasting approach to his predecessor. So the easiest response was to think back to England’s play at the 2022 RWC, in particular the all-embracing driving maul. That has been a widespread Kiwi reaction.
The slogan became “play fast”. Since the Red Roses were already playing faster and more efficiently than any other women’s team, this seemed an odd objective.
The opening moments of the Canada game threw the approach into sharp focus. Mo Hunt caught the kick-off and passed to Alex Matthews, who drove in. Only one other forward was in support, coming in from the side. Laetitita Royer jackalled over the ball and Aimee Barrett-Theron blew for holding on, right in front of the posts. It might have been 3-0 there and then, but Canada opted for a 5-metre line-out and had to wait four minutes for Justine Pelletier to score the first try.
England’s response came, not through another brilliant piece of back-play, but an Alex Matthews drive off the back of a scrum; Maud Muir completing the job. Sarah Bern’s try was an even more obvious example of the Mitchell approach being side-stepped. The pack had to pick and go in stubborn phases to reach the line.
Was that all part of the original plan, or a reversion to England’s past strengths? For once in a blue moon, none of the back-three managed a score.
Some background
Six separate weeks of training sessions took place over the summer. Each time Mitchell called up a large group of players. The 30 finally selected for WXV showed few surprises, but the more you call up, the more are disappointed.
As the process started, Mitchell said “Our first camp of 2024/25 allows us to reset what we stand for and how we will carry ourselves as Red Roses moving forward.” Which is as clear as any government minister’s policy statement.
Later: “Our game is working, and we have an opportunity to dial it up again. There is a massive amount of room to improve individually and evolve our game over the next five weeks.” But of course he didn’t indicate what the perceived shortcomings were; no coach would.
In his many interviews he has made statements that are hard to unpick or were contradicted by later events. He commented on the “non-crowds” attending matches in Canada. Yes indeed. But he might have referred instead to the non-crowds in his native country the previous year..
He was not in favour of rotation. That was confirmed by the stability of his choice of back-three. But the starters for the USA game proved the opposite. It was a delight to see the two uncapped members of the back-line make their debut: Bo Westcombe-Evans and Phoebe Murray. When Abby Dow sustained a head injury, BWE was able to reappear; will the same be true of the deserving Murray?
Another contradiction: Middleton did not favour the caterpillar ruck; it slowed the game down to little effect. That may have been one reason for Mo Hunt’s shock omission from the RWC party; Middleton and Scott Bemand agreed on the issue. Under the new regime Hunt was reinstated, became one of two vice-captains alongside Zoe Aldcroft, and she used the caterpillar. Whatever its virtues, it brings the game to a halt. Does Mitchell approve?
Only he and his assistants (Deacon, Lou Meadows and Hunter) will know how far he accepts their advice or goes his own way.
Contrasts
England’s two games against the Black Ferns then the Maple Leafs were strikingly different. Maybe that is simply the difference between those two opponents. Where the Red Roses ran riot against the Ferns (nine tries), the final match was a much tenser contest. Maybe that is just the nature of the beast, and all the better for that.
It’s ironic that Ellie Kildunne set a new Red Roses record against Canada when she beat 19 defenders. But that, according to @OptaJonny, was two years ago.
The contrast between what Mitchell claims as his strategies and what we see onfield can be striking.
