Entertaining England bringing in new fans
England’s hammering of Wales on Saturday was impressive, but we have not yet seen the Red Roses in full flight. I was among the 19,705 record crowd at Ashton Gate that was treated only to glimpses of the attack being fostered by head coach John Mitchell.
This team are constantly aiming for that perfect game, but it will never come, because a perfect 80-minute game of rugby does not exist. But that will not dampen the Red Roses’ resolve. In this fast-changing world of women’s rugby, England want to be the great entertainers.
On Saturday, the largest home crowd for a Red Roses game away from Twickenham also beat every attendance in the men’s Premiership this weekend. If England keep their foot on the pedal with the intrepid brand of rugby we saw against Wales, soon there will be no empty seats.
According to the stats, England and Wales both enjoyed 18 minutes of attack-based rugby, but the Red Roses crossed the whitewash eight times compared to Wales’s solitary second-half score. That stat alone is hugely telling of the Red Roses’ killer instinct.
England broke the line and gained huge momentum off their strike plays and the set-piece, but it was the speed at which they did it that was even more impressive. The Red Roses’ handling ability has always been one of their super strengths and that has been a huge focus among the squad heading into this Six Nations. Against Wales, players were tipping at the line, tipping around the back, tipping under pressure. At Bristol, we spend a lot of time on our handling work, although obviously I am concentrating on rehab at the moment because of a knee injury. I am biased, but you could see those Bristol girls really excel at the weekend and Hannah Botterman was particularly immense.
Another who stood out was Tatyana Heard, who was outstanding in the midfield. She was the glue between England’s forwards and backs, seamlessly interlinking the two with her silky handling skills and how she managed to distribute close to the line. Heard continuously gave England front-foot ball and her game complemented Meg Jones, who played really well when it came to finding those holes.
You could see England actively trying to pull defenders and manipulate the point of contact to pierce that defensive line.
There has been a lot of commentary about the return of Emily Scarratt and Mitchell challenging her to fit into a new role at inside centre, but I reckon Heard will get the nod against Scotland on Saturday week. I do, however, expect a much-changed back line. Mitchell has made no secret of the fact he wants to experiment. He is, after all, on a fact-finding mission to discover what his best team is before next year’s home World Cup.
Rugby is a game of carrying and winning those metres, but where England really light up is in those spaces with mismatches on the outside. Having 6ft Zoe Aldcroft tearing down the wing against a back is really intimidating. I love straying into those outside channels and I admire how England are flooding those edges more. Even when hooker Connie Powell came on, she made some impressive line breaks.
In the Simon Middleton era, the maul and the scrum were the Red Roses’ super strengths. This team are building upon those foundations and England and becoming more unpredictable. The handling errors are probably slightly higher than they have been in recent years but that is because we are making more carries and passes.
Marlie Packer keeps saying that they want to let the handbrake off because they want to try some new things. They want to play quickly and find those spaces. They are moving the ball about more and are almost desperate to play this electrifying brand of rugby.
England will need to be ready for a tough test against Scotland, who were very impressive in their 15-5 defeat by France. Bryan Easson’s side will be energised by the fight they showed and the Red Roses will have to iron out those soft handling errors and penalties. With a fortnight to fine-tune their attacking masterplan, the best is yet to come.