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Telegraph
26-04-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Zoe Aldcroft calmness personified in face of French pressure
The loudest roar from the Twickenham crowd on a warm and muggy afternoon did not greet any of England's seven tries. Nor did it celebrate a critical defensive turnover or urge a driving maul to eat up more metres. Instead, it arrived in the 79th minute as the Red Roses walked slowly up the pitch to restart the match for one final phase with France threatening to snap a run of 25 consecutive wins and poop a Grand Slam party that had been revelling in the April sunshine for a few hours. England, to their credit, responded with clear heads and an obvious plan that had been devised by Zoe Aldcroft and their other leaders. Zoe Harrison struck the ball long, allowing Abby Dow to sweep a white blanket of chasers up to the opposition 22. Seemingly liberated for so much of the second period, France suddenly clammed up. A horrible mix-up between Taina Maka and Lina Queyroi coughed up possession and ended the match, capping a seventh consecutive title. John Mitchell might have wanted a clean catch, just to test the mettle of his charges and run another tricky training scenario. Notwithstanding a bitty display that left them rather fortunate to prevail with victory here, England are a special team with a special skipper. On the spot for the last mistake, just behind Dow, was Aldcroft. She managed to stay on her feet, yet seemed understandably spent. Amid the chaos of a wild game, the 28-year-old had been a pillar of excellence. 🏆🤩 2025 Guinness Women's Six Nations Champions! #GuinnessW6N @RedRosesRugby — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 26, 2025 Almost two hours previously, Aldcroft had set the tone for England's pristine start by rising to pluck the kick-off out of the sky. Such skills are made to look routine by the 2021 World Player of the Year, who finished with a staggering 20 tackles and a fine solo try as part of a performance that oozed class and calm. Subtle moments away from the television cameras are often where one discerns the true character of a team and another instant during the first period underscored Aldcroft's status as an indispensable focal point for England. It occurred just before the half-hour mark just after Pauline Bourdon-Sansus pounced on a fumble from Harrison to score the visitors' second try. Harrison stared at Natasha Hunt, who had sent a pass skidding toward her toes, bringing about a spill that cost seven points. Any lingering frustration was eased in an instant by Aldcroft, who lifted both hands above her head to assemble her colleagues under the posts and refocus them. Aldcroft would need to repeat the ploy on several occasions over a frenetic 80 minutes, because England conceded six tries and committed a litany of errors. Make no mistake, this was a warning for the Red Roses. Their defence was lacerated in different ways; both up the middle by France's up-the-guts offloading flow and also when more width was put on the ball. Kelly Arbey, Joanna Grisez and Morgane Bourgeois were brilliant across the back three and left England reeling. When they dwell on the positive aspects of this match, Mitchell and his players can be assured that they produced flashes of their very best in attack. In the 49th minute, one such passage saw Dow freed on the right flank from a long Harrison pass. Two phases later, via Alex Matthews' direct carry, Harrison sold a dummy before dancing into space. As the last defender came into view, Aldcroft surged onto her fly-half's left shoulder and had the strength to stretch over despite the efforts of a scrambling Bourdon-Sansus. 🤩 Captain Fantastic! Zoe Aldcroft crosses the line for @RedRosesRugby 💪 #GuinnessW6N — Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 26, 2025 A 38-21 cushion proved invaluable because England played as if the shadow of the World Cup was hindering them. The psychology of this tournament will have been uniquely challenging, no doubt. Now, after the celebrations, they can steady themselves. Among the most punchy and significant selection calls made by Mitchell since he succeeded Simon Middleton as head coach was his decision to switch the captaincy from Marlie Packer to Aldcroft back in January. There are more to come, of course. Mitchell will have to omit some excellent players when he whittles down his final squad this summer. But as long as he has Aldcroft as his on-field leader, the Red Roses can remain confident of World Cup glory.
Telegraph
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Sluggish TMOs blight opening weekend of Women's Six Nations
During England's sub-par second-half showing against Italy Katy Daley-Mclean, the former Red Roses fly-half, could no longer hide her dismay at the glacially slow television match official interventions encroaching on the match. Italy's Beatrice Rigoni had attempted her conversion (and missed) for Francesca Sgorbini's try and England were ready to take the restart when the TMO came in. Sgorbini had grounded the ball a whole three minutes earlier, sparking wild Italian celebrations, but it was then chalked off for obstruction. 'It's taking a lot of the tempo out of the game and it's quite energy-sapping for the players,' sighed Daley-Mclean. 'If it's that clear and obvious, it shouldn't take that amount of time.' Daley-Mclean's frustration was shared by thousands of fans inside the stadium as well as many more watching at home. The TMO delays during the opening round of the Women's Six Nations were more cumbersome than those found on Britain's train network. If this year's championship is supposed to be a shop window for the World Cup, the excruciatingly slow TMO interventions risk becoming a major turn-off for new audiences. A penny for the thoughts of referee Precious Pazani, who spent much of the match running up and down the length of the field each time she was summoned to the one big screen at the far corner of York's LNER Community Stadium. She did it twice in the first half when assessing potential scores from Rosie Galligan and Maddie Feaunati, both of which required TMO intervention. With bleep-test vigour, she then scuttled back in the other direction to communicate the decision to the other team because, inexcusably, her microphone was not linked up to the stadium's PA system. So much for rugby's innovations and fans being brought closer to the action. In this instance, they were a million miles away. Referee Precious Pazani isn't mic'd up in York. Strange silence every time she goes to TMO and crowd falls flat. Disappointing to see the tech hasn't been rolled out across all @Womens6Nations stadiums given the innovation has been such a popular hit in the men's game. — Fi Tomas (@fi_tomas_) March 23, 2025 All things considered, the Zimbabwean official (and how refreshing was it to see a person of colour taking charge of a Test match?) handled proceedings in a glowingly professional manner given the circumstances, even if the stoppages caused by the lengthy TMO deliberations were more pronounced. Yes, there were a couple of long TMO deliberations in the men's championship – Hugo Keenan's try during Ireland's win over Italy was ruled out after Jack Crowley had converted while there was a lengthy discussion before Blair Murray's try was disallowed in the Wales-England match – but already in the women's event we seem to have seen more pedestrian interventions. They were just as clunky in Scotland's scrappy win over Wales, which heavily disrupted the free-flowing nature of the match. Again, there was another unwanted scenario when Wales were ready to restart, only for Lana Skeldon's mauling score to eventually be wiped. There was further bewilderment when, in scenes reminiscent of Murray's tackle jump that led to Taulupe Faletau's try being ruled out in the men's championship, Lisa Thomson was not penalised for jumping over Keira Bevan's tackle attempt. 'That's a clear jump for me, sorry TMO,' lamented Siwan Lillicrap, the former Wales captain, on the BBC's coverage. One sports journalist went as far to suggest on social media that the optics of a male TMO excessively imposing himself on the action crept into 'mansplaining' territory. There are two main takeaways. The first is that the Women's Six Nations deserves proper stadium infrastructure if it is going to be taken seriously like the men's championship, so as not to lessen its entertainment value. Secondly, these incidents should serve as a huge wake-up call for World Cup organisers, who have already selected venues such as York to stage pool matches later this year. A big screen at either end of the ground – or even a smaller viewing platform near the halfway line like the ones referees use for VAR incidents in football – should be non-negotiables for the tournament. If these are the teething problems surfacing now, you would hope organisers are taking notes. It is doubly unfortunate when you consider the women's game has a higher ball-in-play time compared to men's rugby and TMO interruptions suck the tempo out of contests even more. This was not lost on England head coach John Mitchell, who hinted the lengthy stoppages played a part in his side's lacklustre second-half showing. 'The Red Roses are a team that never stands still,' he added, insisting they would react better to them. His team can do all the adapting in the world, but it will be pretty meaningless if the TMOs do not up their game and prevent such momentum killers.
