England run in 14 tries in 92-3 win at Northampton
Mitchell praises 'outstanding' fly-half Helena Rowland
England's victory over Samoa was a record Rugby World Cup win for the Red Roses but the head coach, John Mitchell, said "their basics let them down" during a second half period where they let their foot off the gas.
The Red Roses raced to a 47-0 half-time lead but fumbled lineouts and had knock-ons which thwarted their momentum during the second half. England's Mitchell hugely praised his team but said it was a task to keep up the pressure.
Mitchell said: "Firstly, I thought the start was an energetic, very clinical start. I think as the game wore on and the scoreboard was building, it was always going to be this group's challenge to stay in the process and build pressure. So there's always something to fix in this game. Ultimately at the end of the day if you're going to mark it hard, why didn't we build pressure in that period? Maybe our basics let us down on those couple of occasions. We wouldn't be human if we didn't have something to fix."
Amongst the try-scorers was the fly-half and player of the match Helena Rowland, who also kicked 11 of 14 conversions. The versatile back impressed Mitchell with her performance.
"She was outstanding," he said. "She's got a great skillset. She drove the game really well. Communicated all week. You could tell that she was going to perform well and she did. A lot of the other girls fed off her direction. I thought she was down in the right end of the field when we needed to be there. She directed attack really well to allow us to go forward. She can hunt weakness pretty quickly through her pace. She was definitely an example of an outstanding triple threat."
England have been hit with a few injuries in this tournament with the captain Zoe Aldcroft ruled out for the game against Samoa and their final pool match against Australia. She isn't the only worry with Emily Scarratt picking up a shoulder injury and Holly Aitchison dealing with an ankle problem.
But Mitchell eased any fears of further issues, saying: "Naturally, we all need to go through our processes medically. But right at the minute it was not a lot that's dangerous.
"Injury gods haven't been that kind to us at the start of the tournament, we have managed to get to this point. Getting minutes in to everyone except Holly, so hopefully we can continue with that good group health."
