Fix defence and decide on veterans: how Red Roses can win home World Cup

Times

28-04-2025

John Mitchell has a fair idea of his 32-player squad for the Women's World Cup but he would love a 33rd. The roster size for the men's tournament increased in 2023 but the women's edition is one short, with World Rugby citing that teams play fewer matches.
With the domestic campaign over and another grand slam won, the Red Roses have two warm-ups — set to be at home to Spain and away to France — in August before the World Cup begins in Sunderland against the United States on August 22. Injuries may still play a part of course but Mitchell, the England head coach, is firm in his mind as to the formation of his squad.
'I'm definitely going to take 18:14 [split of forwards to backs] so some positional versatility is going to be important among the backs,' Mitchell said. 'It seems strange that the men's World Cup is 33 and we're only 32 and the teams have to come all this way.
'World Rugby will probably need to consider it going forward because otherwise you are going to have to wait for [replacement] players to be flown from overseas.'
The Red Roses will break for five weeks after beating France 43-42 to seal their seventh successive Six Nations without defeat. They will regather on June 2 and begin preparing for a campaign whose endpoint is a World Cup final at Twickenham on September 27.
There will be warm-weather training in Treviso and an onus on geographical variety so that, in Mitchell's words, the team aren't stuck in a 'high-performance jail'. There follow the warm-ups and then potentially six Tests to become world champions at last. England could be 32 Tests unbeaten going into the final, although France are a larger stumbling block now in a possible semi-final.
After a tournament of experimentation England's squad has taken shape. Intrigue surrounds Marlie Packer and Emily Scarratt: 2014 world champions who are no longer first choice but whose experience may be enough to sustain a place. Zoe Harrison showed fine touches on Saturday, notwithstanding dropping the ball behind her own try line, and looks the No1 fly half in preference to Holly Aitchison.
Another question mark is whether to select a third scrum half or have Claudia MacDonald, a starter on the left wing, cover her former position. 'It's just a case of trusting every person in that squad,' Megan Jones, the centre, said. 'I always say it but Emily Scarratt's not even on the [starting] team. That's the depth we're talking about and the sort of expertise we have.'
Though England have firepower in their back three, Saturday was a reminder that they do not have a monopoly on the issue. Joanna Grisez showed supreme speed to finish the late try that gave France hope of victory and Kelly Arbey caused trouble too. France also put England under pressure with vintage forward play, carrying up the middle and offloading deftly.
'[It was an] unusual defence performance,' Mitchell said of his team. 'That's probably the thing I'll unpack. I thought through the middle we weren't winning the first collision and then we weren't getting the second in. But then the edge [problems in defence] in the second half — I certainly didn't see that coming.'
The return of Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, reversing her retirement, adds the World Cup's most prolific tryscorer to New Zealand's armoury. The Black Ferns were brilliant out wide in the 2022 final — England's sole defeat in their past 56 matches — through the likes of Stacey Waaka at outside centre, with Woodman-Wickliffe having been knocked out in the collision that yielded a red card for Lydia Thompson. Deprived of one final, she will seek another.
It was around this stage three years ago that the Black Ferns got their act together, cramming for finals that they always win, doing so again 34-31 at Eden Park. 'New Zealand are on for a three-peat in World Cups so there's probably more pressure on them to win a World Cup than us,' Mitchell said. With France also improving on the big stage — their two Twickenham games have ended in five and one-point defeats — and Canada going well, England have three nations keen to knock them down.
What is not in doubt is England's ability to score tries, with greater variety than their 2022 version. 'One thing that Mitch hammered home, especially in this game, is that we weren't here to defend a title, we were here to win one,' Abby Dow, the wing, said. 'I think often we try to defend something when actually there is a privilege and an opportunity. We're really trying to change that mindset and go for it.
'When you look at the last World Cup, how often did we score from the maul? Yes, we went to it [on Saturday], but we also had tries from our back three. The difference is that we're not just using our back three when it's not top four [teams in the world]. We're using them whenever we can and when it's on. There is a desire to say: 'Why not?' I think that's key for us.'
Harrison had an adequate day off the tee, not always an area of strength for England (notably she kept the kicking duties rather than handing them to Emma Sing, the top points-scorer in the domestic game), while Morgane Bourgeois slotted all six of her conversions, keeping France's deficit to one point even though England scored an extra try.
For all the Red Roses' dominance, the scoreboard is invariably close when they face Canada, France or New Zealand in opposition. Every point matters come August and September.