England Embrace Growing Competitiveness of Women's Rugby
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Red Roses Embrace Growing Competitiveness of Game
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By Alastair Telfer, BBC Sport journalist at Allianz Stadium
Published 22 minutes ago
The Red Roses (England) have traditionally been synonymous with winning. Since John Mitchell's arrival in 2023, the team has maintained an incredible record: every game won. However, their 39-game winning streak came to an end last week with a thrilling 26-26 draw against Canada.
This weekend, they hosted New Zealand, undefeated under new coach Whitney Hansen, at Allianz Stadium. The match was a test of nerve as England sought to avoid another shock defeat in front of a massive crowd of 59,871.
With less than 10 minutes remaining, Braxton Sorensen-McGee's conversion levelled the score at 19-19 for New Zealand. But England responded with clutch play from Zoe Harrison, who secured victory with an intercept try in the final play.
"We couldn't have a repeat of what happened against Canada last week," Harrison said. "A draw wasn't good enough, so we had to get the points somehow."
The win was significant for England and women's rugby as a whole, especially considering New Zealand's status as the world's second-ranked side.
"It goes back to that World Cup final [in 2022] for me," Harrison added. "Beating them on home soil was fantastic and it being such a close game is great for women's rugby."
Mitchell acknowledged the importance of learning to win tight matches, especially against top teams like New Zealand. Despite lacking several key players, including World Cup-winning captain Zoe Stratford, England's defence, aided by coaching legend Shaun Edwards, has been improving but still needs work.
"To put it into context," Mitchell said, "the Red Roses don't play New Zealand and Canada often—it's important to learn how to win tight Test matches."