England Hunts for Women’s Rugby World Cup: Will They Achieve Victory?

Perfect Storm Approaches for the Red Roses at the Women’s Rugby World Cup

As the Women’s Rugby World Cup approaches, a perfect situation is in sight for the Red Roses. Three years after their painful defeat to New Zealand in the 2022 final, the only loss in their last 60 matches, England has a home tournament that will give them the opportunity to showcase women’s rugby and finally get the only trophy that has eluded the vast majority of the team. Coach John Mitchell, who took over in 2023, has said that the result will not define him or the players. While that may be true, the pressure and expectations on his team are significant: they are, by far, the fittest and most resourceful team on the planet. They may have crumbled under the pressure four years ago, but now England has their chance to redeem themselves.

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Home Amenities

A home World Cup brings unique challenges. While the players will be boosted and cheered on by the support of the fans, there will be additional demands on the players from the media, fans and families, as well as higher expectations of performance. The comforts of home will be close, but with a busy travel schedule, hotels and the team bus will remain the norm. The Red Roses will begin the tournament in Sunderland on August 22 against the United States, before heading to Northampton, where they will face Samoa, and then to the south coast for their final group match against Australia in Brighton. Mitchell, who has sought advice from a wide range of trusted advisors in the period leading up to the tournament, is welcoming the grand tour. Ben Youngs, who played under the direction of then England assistant Mitchell in the 2019 World Cup, when they reached the final, said that the best tournaments were those in which they were not locked in a “high-performance prison”.

“The older I get as a coach and being in high-performance rugby, I get tired of hotels and things like that. We all prefer our own homes, don’t we?”

Mitchell

Alex Davidson – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images“The way the discussion started was that, although World Rugby owns the tournament and there are many limitations because of that, because that’s how they create equality, how do we get an advantage in their home World Cup? “He [Youngs] said that, across four World Cups, he enjoyed the World Cups where it didn’t feel like a high-performance prison and I think that little nugget was probably the key to our designs.” Mitchell mixed things up for the group with a camp in Italy before the preparation matches against Spain and France. During the tournament, the players will have a day off each week where they can get away from the rigors of the tournament. The noise around the team will increase as the campaign progresses. Giving the players the opportunity to escape the bubble could be crucial to their success.

Climbing Mount Everest

Mountaineer Jo Bradshaw was invited to address the group before the tournament in an attempt to provide a fresh voice for the players. In March, Bradshaw completed the “Seven Summits”: climbing the highest mountains on each continent, raising money for charity. Among the various inspiring stories, there was a message that particularly resonated with Mitchell.

“She just talked [how] most people think you can conquer Everest just by climbing it right away,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell

“The only thing we learned from Jo Bradshaw is that the timing must be right before climbing. We haven’t earned that right yet, so we have to earn it in the group stage.”

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However, there is no doubt that England’s moment has to be now.

They are already installed at base camp and are ready for the final push to the summit. For the class of 2025, the climb will be mental as well as physical. The scars of 2022 remain, but the team is embracing the expectation and the opportunity to transform the popularity and perception of women’s rugby in England and finally lift the World Cup.

Emulating the Lionesses

Harry Murphy – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty ImagesAs soon as the tournament focused at the beginning of the year, comparisons were drawn between the Red Roses and the Lionesses, who won the European Championship at home in 2022. They continued to repeat their feats this year when they defended their Euro Cup crown in Switzerland. Both victories were followed by an overwhelming increase in support for the national team and women’s football across the country. Serina Wiegman’s team’s success has only increased hope in the rugby community that the sport could have its own Lionesses moment that propels the Red Roses into the mainstream.

The players are embracing the idea, they do not shy away from it.

“It’s incredible [how] you can see the country supporting them and that’s something we want to achieve,” said captain Zoe Aldcroft.

Zoe Aldcroft

“We started in Sunderland and made our way across the country, so we give access to all of England, not just the south, which is something super important.” Extending the matches throughout the country is no coincidence. It was planned by World Rugby with the idea that no one would be more than a couple of hours away from a match. The matches will also be broadcast on free-to-air television, as the organizers seek to maximize the reach of what they, and the Red Roses, hope will be a monumental event.