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As richly rewards a competition as possible, the start of the six nations of women can sometimes be an exercise to find new ways to ask the same old questions. For several years now, we have suited a challenger to get up and take the red roses, to meet the power on the most dominant side of rugby, but six editions in their monopoly of the tournament, the prospect of a non -English -speaking winner has never felt more distant.
It is not, at all, the fault of John Mitchell and his team, whose incessant pursuit of grandeur, and the crown of the World Cup that escapes them, is attested by a change of captain in what could prove to be a decisive year. But that means that the survey lines required during the word at best and that the others are subtly different.
For example, after having unveiled his team to face Italy in York on Sunday in a Twickenham pub, Mitchell was surveyed on how he would weigh the selection scores in the selection for a World Cup which is now in sight. The enviable depth of the team owned by England creates non-enviable headache for their head coach, with up to 40 to 45 worthy players who were to be narrowed to 32 come the ultimate price in August and September.
Turn on your options when you can’t deal with a real test until the meeting with France on the last Saturday will not be easy. If this feels disdaining from the opposition of England, it should be remembered that the RED roses have won 50 of their last 51 games (with this heartbreaking defeat of the World Cup, the exception of the only time) and not lost on the ground at home in this tournament for a decade.
“There are enough dep- game teams that have put us under pressure,” suggested Mitchell, while explaining how internal competition will be the key to continuing to generate advanced standards. “We want to punch in 2025, but I’m sure we will also get a few punches in the coming weeks. So it is important that we also learn.
“The girls have exceeded this stage to be selfish [over selection]. Basically, we must use it to our advantage. It is a huge advantage. It’s healthy. There is competition, there are proceedings. And red roses have never been a waiting team. We have always been a team looking to raise the bar early and establish the standard. And if you have no competition, you don’t have people who continue, then how do you push and raise the bar?
England was somewhat frightened by a narrow victory against Canada in WXV in the fall, finally finding a means of victory but producing their worst distance performance under Mitchell. Having embraced an uber-explosive style in 2024, opening their attack game, a subtle gap in the language of the head coach suggests that he wants his team to play more ripe and to choose their moments, especially when the pressure arrives.
“It is important to realize that we are going to need two teams to operate this year,” he said, after giving Helena Rowland a first international departure at half of the fly for three years. “I think we have had 9 and 10 in the past two years who have probably been exceptional rugby players around the world. But this year, we are trying to have 9 and 10 being the best decision -makers in the world. ”
There is a school of thought that a defeat during this competition would not be the worst thing for England, concentrating the mind and encouraging a team that sometimes had difficulty in adversity to learn to manage defeat. Rowland and Wing Jess Breach, among others, have never lost in a shirt in England; For people involved in the Gloucester-Hartpury dynasty, such as Captain Zoe Aldcroft, losses are also rare at the club level.
A large home is nevertheless likely to come, but there are reasons of optimism in the rest of the participants. For a team from Wales apparently in perpetual disorders, the arrival of Sean Lynn Fresh to finish a Gloucester -Hartpury with three Peat is a new welcome – the right man at the right time for a team that needs an arm around the shoulder. Lynn only started properly in his role on Monday after the conclusion of the club season, but his opening selection is catchy, with new roles for the 8 Georgia Evans and the center inside Kayleigh Powell, one of the discoveries of the female rugby season of Premiership (PWR) as a free-wheel platform for the Harlequins.
The extracts and districts shown in the world of Wales camp have seen Lynn refer several times to “the family” as a kind of mafioso in sweet ways -having favored a culture so rich at the level of the club, it is clear that it is trying to generate the same collective buy -in.
Ireland also seeks to have the right man at the helm. A few eyebrows were raised when Scott Bemand was appointed in 2023, but the former coach of England calmed some scruples in Irish rugby and began to gather a serious threat side. The revolutionary victory against New Zealand at WXV was proof of the richness of the talent basin – Aoife Wafer quickly becomes a high -level rear row, and Dannah O’Brien was raised in potential in half of the fly.
Scotland, on the other hand, seems as well established and should target a finish among the first three after having left matches winning against Wales and Ireland in the past two years to place in the lower half. It looks like the almost women of the six nations have a real statement there. Italy, in the same way, is still dangerous – the new coach Fabio Roselli received his first job in the women’s match, but did a solid job under the radar with Zebre.
As always, meetings between the quartet can be more interesting than those involving the first two – to another tasty test in Twickenham on April 26. You have to ask yourself again if France maximizes talent at their disposal, although the late development of the feminine Elite 1 can, over time, a real alternative to PWR for the best players in the world. Can they close the chasm that opens between the best and the rest? With greater battles to come later this year, England would probably appreciate a little more competition.
