Red Roses throw down World Cup gauntlet in rout
England at Sixways 89-0
Simon Middleton, the England head coach, has talked up the importance of other rugby unions taking their women’s teams “forward” after watching his side dominate the United States to complete a clean sweep of autumn victories.
Following three emphatic wins this month, over world champions New Zealand and Canada, England have installed themselves as overwhelming favourites to win next year’s World Cup.
In a testament to the huge depth of England’s professionalism, a heavily rotated Red Roses side inflicted a 15-try rout to extend their impressive winning streak to 18 consecutive Tests. Such drubbings, however, are unlikely to favour
women’s rugby in the long term, and Middleton cited the captivating conclusions to England and Wales men’s victories over South Africa and Australia respectively at the weekend as a competitive template for women’s Test rugby.
“There is an emphasis on other nations to take their game forward,” Middleton said. “If you look at the games yesterday in the men’s programme, they were unbelievably competitive. That’s how you put 80,000 and 60,000 in a stadium, and that’s how you make the game grow massively. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to be as good as we can be, and if you’ve got that level of competition every week, you’ll get the product that you saw in the men’s competition.
“Unquestionably, there’s some great effort being made. We know the Black Ferns will go away and regenerate, and it will be a whole different ball game next year. Hopefully, other nations can get behind their national women’s team.”
It took less than two minutes for England to kick-start proceedings through Vickii Cornborough, who wheeled out from behind a maul to barge her way over the whitewash.
Abby Dow’s potency from full-back was a measure of a dynamic, multioperational England, who have laid down a marker for next year’s World Cup. Every time the Wasps player was on the ball, she needed an average of five US shirts to haul her down, and she fended off with the aura of an NFL player.
She carved through the ragged US defence to execute a sublime solo try for England’s second, before unselfishly feeding Lydia Thompson to score the first of her two tries on her 50th Test appearance at her home club. In all areas, England looked unstoppable. From the hunger shown by Holly Aitchison, who gobbled up an intercept to wheel in for England’s penultimate try, to Helena Rowland’s astute game management at fly-half, they barely allowed the US to make a break.
So how does Middleton reflect on this victorious autumn window? “Probably the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is their desire to be as good as they can be,” he said of his squad. “We’ve challenged the girls hugely in lots of ways, and they’ve stepped up to the plate every time.”