Mitchell wants 'no regrets' from England at World Cup

BBC News

5 hours ago

England will approach this summer's home World Cup with "no regrets" says Red Roses head coach John Mitchell.England's women have been in their Rugby World Cup training camp since the start of June as they aim to win the trophy for the first time in 11 years on home soil.Having faced two tournament final defeats at the hands of New Zealand in 2017 and 2022, Mitchell is not shying away from the challenge ahead."How do we get done what we haven't had for a long time?" the 61-year-old said. "We mustn't have been doing something right."I guess that's the powerful opportunity while this tournament is under our watch, it's an opportunity to have no regrets."So far, England's pre-season has seen the players put into teams to compete in "strong women" challenges, but New Zealander Mitchell has also introduced an "NBA draft system".He explained the draft allows players to "strategically let somebody go because you know what your group's strengths are. To me, there's a little bit of strategy in it as well. It just helps the girls connect".
Players asked to double up
The group is currently made up of 42 players that Mitchell will have to reduce to 32 for the World Cup with him choosing 18 forwards and 14 backs.The limitations on numbers mean that Mitchell is looking for "versatility" in his players with Exeter wing Claudia McDonald once again being looked to cover scrum-half like she did in 2022.Gloucester wing Mia Venner is also being looked at in three positions, adding both nine and full-back to her repertoire which she has covered at club level.Mitchell is aware that the need for players to double up will impact others: "It'll be hard on some players in the sense that some specialists might miss out as a result of the versatility that's needed."
Getting tough in Treviso
The last Red Roses camp before the Rugby World Cup squad is named will be in Treviso, Italy in July.It is the first foreign camp England's women have been taken on, but despite the excitement the head coach is promising it will be one the toughest and hottest they have experienced."The heat will in itself create its own duress" said Mitchell, with temperatures in the region averaging around 30C in the summer."I think our tournament might be hot, so I think we'll benefit from that. It will probably be our most uncomfortable training camp of all of them because it will be hot and you'll get bothered."After England lost the last Rugby World Cup final after an early red card for wing Lydia Thompson, the coaches are keen to ensure no stone will be left unturned to prepare the side for all eventualities."The amount that we've layered on our game will put them under a lot of questions through scenarios," said Mitchell. "The unfairness that comes in the games through the cards, those sorts of things. The play-to-rest ratios will be probably a little bit lower as well. We can create a really quite niggly camp if you like."We want to be ready for any form of unfairness and it will come at some point. Look at the way cards and HIA's (Head Injury Assessments) have advanced the game in that area."We've definitely got to do it because it's going to come in the tournament. I'd rather be ready for every eventuality and even then, we probably won't be ready for every eventuality."If we don't create that exposure, then we're probably going to let ourselves down like the last World Cup."
Rivals
As England prepare, so do their rivals and Mitchell is putting plans in place for warm-up games with Spain and France, followed by their opening pool games with USA and Samoa.After a scare against France in their final Six Nations match in May when Les Bleus came back to within a point by the final whistle, Mitchell says they have learned from it."The French match has been a big influence on how we learn and evolve our game," he said. "We look at that separately from the other matches, because they're able to threaten us in different ways."He pinpoints the change in defence coach in the last campaign with Sarah Hunter being off on maternity leave and Nathan Catt taking on her duties as contributing to them losing "a little bit of our system" and since her return "we're obviously definitely refreshing that and bringing that back".However, any talk deeper into the tournament is quickly shut-down.He will not be drawn on commenting on either Canada or world champions New Zealand.Both are considered the Red Roses biggest rivals for the main prize with Mitchell saying any matches with them are "too far down, we've got to earn that right".