England urged to ‘dial it up’ and seal Grand Slam
John Mitchell has backed his England side to “dial it up again” when they take on France in tomorrow’s Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider in Bordeaux.
The Red Roses have enjoyed a near perfect campaign, romping to big scorelines with their new-found attacking mentality after heeding head coach Mitchell’s call to “play on the edge”.
France, ranked third in the world, will provide a much sterner test but face a serious task in ending their 12-match losing streak against England in a fixture that has historically been close.
Eight past matches have been decided by a single score, and while France will be buoyed by a nearcapacity crowd at the Stade Chaban-delmas, Mitchell believes his side can step up a gear in pursuit of a sixth consecutive title.
“We’ve got better as the tournament has progressed and who said there are limits on the style that we produced last weekend? We have the ability to dial it up again,” Mitchell said. “It will continue to evolve. It’s challenged a lot of the girls in that area. They fully understand where we’re heading but this group sets such high standards that they will never be satisfied. We’ll always want to get better.”
Mitchell has thrown no major selection curve balls in his final match-day squad for the campaign but has given the nod to Morwenna Talling over Abbie Ward in the second row following the Sale Sharks player’s fine individual display in the 88-10 hammering of Ireland. Amy Cokayne comes in for the injured Lark Atkin-davies.
France almost stunned England at Twickenham last year when coming close to completing an incredible second-half fightback in the 38-33 defeat.
Despite his team racking up 228 points in the championship while conceding just 20, Mitchell warned them not to rest on their laurels.
“We’ve been expecting an armwrestle for some time and we are certainly going to get it on the weekend,” he said. “It’s important to experience that so that’ll hold us in good stead because we can learn from it.”
Lock Madoussou Fall starts for France, having been used off the bench in the 40-0 defeat of Wales. Romane Menager moves back to No8, having operated as blindside flanker in Cardiff, and twin sister Marine is fit to start on the wing.