England Red Roses

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Thought I'd create thread for England women team.

One bit of (bad) news is Sarah Bern out of 6N with knee injury. Despite the strength in depth England have that is a massive blow as she is a superb player. Not only brilliant in scrum but devestating with ball in hand running through and around opposition.

England no doubt again be strong favourites again but I'm hoping other 6N teams are on up.

It was also good to see Emily Scarratt back to something like her best form - the last few tries were a direct result of her ability to get the ball into space quickly.

I thought the Irish tackling was pretty effective for long periods of the game - England were making less progress ball in hand than in the earlier games of the series. But the threat up the middle was enough to keep the Irish defence a little bit narrow, and once the ball got to th outside channels, England had a lot of 3 on 2s and made most of their yards and a fair number of tries that way.

Kildunne was a huge part of that. We were in the North Lower, behind the posts, and it was very visible how often she was sweeping from side to side of the pitch to create the overlap.

I was lucky enough to be there. Twickenham had a bit of a party atmosphere it has to be said. Fantastic performances from Mo Hunt, Breach, Dow, the irrepressible Kildunne, Meg Jones - I could go on.

The team "clicked" today. Which is a frightening prospect for any opponents.

Special mention to Morwenna Talling, who wasn't expecting to start then did the full 80, and Emily Scarratt, who was sublime when she came on.

An amazing day out.

Scarratt was excellent, after an iffy game against Italy by her high standards she was back to best. Passing, kicking and identifying best option.

Thats three of us there then we were in the West Stand high up just about central.

The thing that stood out for be was that the Irish seem to having.been watching the games of a couple of years ago, then it you kicked deep and tight and gave her a bit of room Abbie Dow would penalise you big time, now it is Ellie Kildunne, if you kick deep and central it gives her time to look up and see where the defence is standing and shee has the pace and skills to just waltz through a defence. They didn't learn and just kept feeding her.

There was a time when we replaced teh front row that Ireland managed to get on top for a short while and won a couple of penalties, but other than thet breif spell they were under the cosh most of the game, Matthews really came into it in the last twenty, plenty of hard driving runs gaining a lot of ground.

Abbie Dow seems to have put some muscle on, she seems stockier than she was last year, it makes a massive difference to her game, as she is now taking defenders with her when tackled and making ground whilst giving her team mates a better chance of getting to the breakdown in numbers.

I felt sorry for the guy sitting in front of us, he was (probably still is) Irish and his partner English, she was giving him stick all the game, well until the score got into the 60's when I think she started to feel sorry for him.

Bring on France, it could be a classic.

Both Rosie Galligan and Lark Atkin-Davies are confirmed as out of the game against France.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cv2xvxpxlqno

Not really a surprise, as Lark looked in some discomfort after hurting an ankle whilst Rosie had her arm in a sling. Still, Amy Cokayne and Abbie Ward are not exactly poor replacements.

Mr Bounce wrote:Both Rosie Galligan and Lark Atkin-Davies are confirmed as out of the game against France.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cv2xvxpxlqno

Not really a surprise, as Lark looked in some discomfort after hurting an ankle whilst Rosie had her arm in a sling. Still, Amy Cokayne and Abbie Ward are not exactly poor replacements.

That's the other really impressive thing about England - in most positions there's genuine competition between two or even three top class players and Mitchell can adapt easily to replace injuries or adapt to different tactical goals.

Kildunne is probably the least replaceable right now - but even there Breach plays fullback for Sarries (one of the reasons she moved) so there's cover.

You know that the squad is great when Poppy Cleall can't get a look in.

Emma Sing is another option for Full Back, and again, can't get into the 23 due to the ridiculous amount of strength in depth. What a position for Mitchell to be in...

You know that the squad is great when Poppy Cleall can't get a look in

It is remarkable as last couple years she was the standout forward, better 8 than Hunter I always thought.
Sarah Beckett available after ban so I'd think she should be in contention.

Not seen team announced for Saturday, usually done by now?

mountain man wrote:Not seen team announced for Saturday, usually done by now?

Nothing yet, maybe 4.30? Here's the French team:

Emilie Boulard; Joanna Grisez, Nassira Konde, Gabrielle Vernier, Marine Ménager; Lina Queyroi, Pauline Bourdon Sansus; Annaëlle Deshaye, Agathe Sochat, Assia Khalfaoui, Manae Feleu (capt), Madoussou Fall, Charlotte Escudero, Gaëlle Hermet, Romane Ménager.

Team up now:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/articles/cpdg4kjj3gvo

France are making a game of it, but England are getting the upper hand up front and I suspect that will be decisive.

In other news, Wales can feel the spoon in their hand again... Can they manage the double?

Great game, France tested England but Red Roses just too good. Clear red card for France.
England won through forwards as they needed to as opposed to previous games when backs could dominate.

France performance in the 2nd half when down to 14 was really very good. I thought they would tire as the 2nd half wore on but they didn't.

Hard test for England, for a change, but a comfortable win in the end.

One thing that's being debated a lot post tournament is England's discipline. 2 reds, 6 cards overall and the highest penalty count in the tournament, and yet John Mitchell is very relaxed about it... why?

I think it's because he has asked the players to play on the edge so that they can get more experience of playing when under pressure. He identified as one of the issues they had in RWC21 that they weren't used to having the odds stacked against them and went into their shells when they got the red against NZ.

He's comfortable with them getting cards in this tournament because he wanted them to practice playing with someone in the bin. And I believe they matched or outscored the opposition in every period where they were a player down.

They are likely to keep playing that way through WXV1, and tighten up the discipline over next season preparatory to RWC25. It's nice when you have the luxury of being able to give yourself disadvantages and still winning...

In other news, Ellie Kildunne was not only the top try scorer, but the top points scorer overall - which is remarkable. It's hard to imagine another tournament where a non-kicker could come out ahead of the kickers like that.

Mitchell absolutely right, England playing on the edge to get the edge. None of the cards was malicious or intentional plus they were always going to win. It's refreshing to see a coach being honest and not go down the route of being apologetic to appease media.

Possibly be a different matter if lost a player against France or they do against NZ.

As it happens I thought red card for France was worse than any England had. However, that also was not intentional.

Same for all teams though men or women, an early red in a close game usually means losing.