The Purple Roses gained their seventh consecutive Six Nations title with a slim 43-42 win over France on the Allianz Stadium on Saturday, and John Mitchell mentioned the scare was “ultimate” for his England facet forward of the Rugby World Cup later this 12 months.
England are on an unbelievable 25-match unbeaten run and secured their fourth Grand Slam in a row with the one-point win over France. The guests pushed them shut and teed up a nail-biting end due to Joanna Grisez’s late strive, however England held on for the victory.
The Purple Roses scored seven tries general with Abby Dow (two), Emma Sing (two), Lark Atkin-Davies, Claudia MacDonald and captain Zoe Alcroft all crossing, however Mitchell was left disenchanted with their defence.
“It was ultimate for us,” Mitchell mentioned post-match. “After a very good begin we may have put them away, however they received power by way of the center of us and as soon as a French facet will get that power, they eye success. So we all the time talked about the truth that we in all probability needed to win the sport three or 4 instances. I believe we needed to win it 9 instances.
“I wasn’t pleased with the defence. I assumed they received by way of us too straightforward by way of the center. We adjusted that at half-time, however the fringe of the defence was lower than customary.”
The Purple Roses are the dominant workforce within the sport and are the clear favourites to win the World Cup later this 12 months on residence soil.
Mitchell mentioned his workforce should be taught to deal with groups elevating their sport for the problem of dealing with the competitors favourites and mentioned England should discover a solution to increase their sport for such duties.
“The Purple Roses is a singular workforce proper on the minute and has been for some time, however groups are allowed to carry out in opposition to this. That is one thing that can occur and can proceed to occur in ’25. So it is simply going to assist us increase our sport. I am gonna have to lift our sport which may be very actually clear.”
Sing did effectively in Ellie Kildunne’s absence at fullback, and Mitchell hopes the expertise of taking part in in entrance of a giant crowd at Twickenham will put his group in good stead for us forward of the World Cup later this 12 months.
“I believe she had a very good begin to the sport, however — and she or he acknowledged this herself — it’s important to be within the sport, post-action. And I believe she in all probability realized quite a bit about how fast it’s and the way individuals shut down her house. However, actually good for her.
“Within the teaching assembly this morning, we labored out that after in the present day 95% of the women which can be more likely to go to the World Cup have all had expertise of taking part in within the stadium; earlier than this sport, that that would not have been the case. That has positively been a scenario that we have deliberate for as effectively to make it possible for the broader group had an expertise right here and now we have got an opportunity to take pleasure in ourselves on a break and are available again and earn the suitable to contest right here once more.”
Aldcroft added: “We clearly realized a large quantity from that sport. I believe it was simply being actually clear with the messaging and simply giving one subsequent job for the workforce to actually go after. Credit score to the French workforce, I believe their velocity of play was actually excellent in the present day.”
