England’s women’s rugby team, the Red Roses, enter the Women’s Six Nations as firm favourites despite several notable absences. Injury, pregnancies and retirements mean the squad will be without eight Rugby World Cup winners. However, the team’s depth is such that they remain the team to beat.
England’s Strength in Depth
The Red Roses’ strength in depth allows them to absorb significant changes. Abby Dow’s retirement makes way for Claudia Moloney-MacDonald. With Zoe Stratford pregnant, Meg Jones, World Rugby player of the year nominee, takes the captain’s armband.
England’s ability to consistently produce top-tier players is a key factor in their dominance. Full-time contracts, introduced before other nations, have also contributed.
Mitchell Aims for Further Improvement
John Mitchell is yet to lose as England head coach. He believes his side have not reached their full potential. “Even though we do get the scoreboard right most of the time we’re definitely very challenging on ourselves around how we want to get better,” he says.
Mitchell added: “We are still unfinished. The youth in this squad, there are unfinished athletes. It’s an unfinished team that wants to play a style of rugby that we haven’t got to yet.
“There is the motivation of the Lions next year for some of the girls and there is the responsibility to maintain the standard and see how long we can maintain it for. The challenge is to see if we can do it for four years. That all starts on 11 April [against Ireland].”
Potential Challengers: Ireland and France
England are not without weaknesses. They have had discipline issues and can be stifled in attack with slow ball at the breakdown. Ireland and France are best placed to exploit these vulnerabilities.
Both teams troubled England in the last Six Nations. Ireland had England on the ropes in the first half, though the final score was 49-5. France narrowly lost 43-42 after a late comeback attempt.
Ireland’s Opening Challenge
Ireland have been improving since Scott Bemand took over in 2023. They possess individual talent in Erin King, Aoife Wafer and Beibhinn Parsons.
Ireland face England in their opening game at the Allianz Stadium. The game is expected to be played in front of a Women’s Six Nations crowd of more than 75,000. King believes in her side: “It’ll be a challenge but bring it on. We’ve shown that we can compete with the best in the world before
Mitchell sees the Lions next year as motivation for some of the girls. There is also the responsibility to maintain the standard and see how long we can maintain it for.