John Mitchell's new England pass French test and will only get better | Robert Kitson

27/04/2024 21:03

The Red Roses clinched a sixth successive Women's Six Nations but never before have they had such impressive balance

England's head coach, John Mitchell, before this season's Women's Six Nations, could not have been any clearer on the subject of his squad's ambitions. "The potential of this side is huge," he told the Guardian. "We've been a very good team but we want to be an outstanding team." The objective was not just to win games but to surpass anything they had previously achieved.

On the evidence of this latest coup de grace in Bordeaux that mission is firmly on track. A sixth successive Six Nations title and a third straight grand slam may look, at first glance, to be a mundane tale of the expected but this one stands out for several reasons. First, it was their first under Mitchell, whose familiar brand of no-nonsense Kiwi nous is already paying dividends. Second, it was clinched on French soil against decent opposition who kept coming and posed persistent problems.