MacDonald: Mitchell’s approach ‘really cool’
CLAUDIA MacDonald has praised the ‘new perspective’ John Mitchell has brought to the England Women’s team since taking charge.
The 60-year-old was appointed head coach last May, taking over from the long-serving Simon Middleton, who led the Red Roses to six Six Nations titles, as well as two Rugby World Cup finals in 2017 and 2022.
Mitchell’s reign did not start until the current Six Nations Championship, but already MacDonald is seeing the positives that the New Zealander has brought to the squad.
“He’s brought a new and different perspective to things, which I think has been really important,” said the Exeter Chiefs star. “I think for all of us, it’s been really cool to learn a different way of seeing the game.
“He brings his own tactics, his own coaching, as well as the way he sees things, but to have that kind of fresh eyes and everything is really cool.”
Sadly, a neck injury means the 28-year-old is having to play a watching brief during the current Six Nations campaign, but she says Mitchell has been in regular dialogue with her, checking in on her progress.
“He’s picked up the phone and called me a couple of times, which has been amazing,” she added. “When you are injured you can be sometimes out of sight and out of mind, but that’s not been the case. Even though he’s been in camp, which is super busy, he’s still found time to pick up a phone and drop me a call. That’s been really special and certainly help me still feel part of the team.”
With her focus currently on regaining her fitness, MacDonald this week spent time helping to promote the launch of Rugby World Cup 2025, which will take place here in England.
“You can feel the excitement building,” said MacDonald, who was part of
England’s squad that were defeated by New Zealand in the World Cup final in November 2022. “There are only something like 500 days to go until the start, so there’s not a huge amount of rugby to play between now and then.
“You’ve got the rest of this season, one more season, one more Six Nations, and then you’re into the World Cup, so it going to be upon us really soon.
“To have it here in England, though, that’s going to be amazing. I think at any time, England love to get behind a tournament and they’ll say “It’s Coming Home’. For women’s rugby, it’s fantastic and you’ve seen in the last few years how the game is exploding across the globe.
“As a team we maybe saw coming second [at the last World Cup] as failure, but actually when you look at the results we had back home in England – and by that I mean – more players playing the game, more people watching the game, the growth of PWR, all of that has happened because of what we did at the World Cup.
“For us, I guess it just reminds us that it’s not just about winning all the time, obviously that’s the end goal as a team, but the benefits it can brings elsewhere are huge and we’re seeing that everywhere we go.”
Indeed, the rise in prominence of the women’s game, both for club and country, is helping inspire a new generation of talent, some of whom got the chance to learn from MacDonald and other members of the Chiefs squad at this week’s launch.
“Just look at PWR, you’ve got the best players from across the world playing against each other week in, week out,” added MacDonald. “Not only is that meaning standards being raised, but the exposure we are getting the development that is being generated means the game is only going to go from strength to strength.”