“New Zealand have more pressure on them to win the upcoming Rugby World Cup than us because they are on for the three-peat,” the England head coach, John Mitchell, said as his focus turns from celebrating Six Nations success to the looming global tournament.
The Black Ferns have won the past two Rugby World Cups, beating England in the 2017 and 2022 finals. But they have done a four-peat in the competition as they won the trophy from 1998-2010.
The Red Roses, who won their seventh consecutive Women’s Six Nations title on Saturday with a 43‑42 victory against France, have not won the Rugby World Cup since 2014 despite dominating the sport in all other competitions in the past few years: in their past 62 games they have lost only one, that coming in the World Cup final three years ago.
Mitchell was asked if he and his coaches are keeping an eye on New Zealand pre-World Cup, particularly now that the Rugby World Cup all‑time try-scorer Portia Woodman‑Wickliffe has come out of retirement to compete in it.
“We are focusing more on the USA, Samoa and Australia [England’s pool opponents],” Mitchell said. “Then Wales, Scotland and France again in a semi‑final. If all things go to plan they [New Zealand] will be on the other side. We will deal with that if we earn the right but I think New Zealand are on for a three-peat in World Cups so there is probably more pressure on them to win a World Cup than us.”
The Rugby World Cup is being held in England and will start in August. Every team will have a squad of 32 and Mitchell said he does not know why the women’s competition does not have 33-player squads like the men’s Rugby World Cup.
Squads of 33 players for the men’s competition were introduced for the 2023 tournament, an increase from 31, but it has not been brought in by World Rugby for the women’s event. The women’s squad number was initially increased to 30 from 28 but was upped to 32 for the tournament three years ago because of the pandemic.
Mitchell, who confirmed he would take 18 forwards and 14 backs to the tournament this year, said: “It seems strange that the men’s World Cup is 33 and we’re only 32 and the teams have to come all this way.
“I think World Rugby will probably need to consider it going forward because otherwise you are going to have to wait for players to be flown from overseas. I think you have to wait until the 24-hours flight rule or whatever it is because the overseas teams would have to wait to bring their players in. I think 33 seems to be the right number, like [in] the men’s game.”
It is understood the discrepancy in squad sizes is because the men’s competition has more fixtures and the decision to remain at 32 players for the women’s event this year was also taken in line with unions. But it is also thought that if unions wanted World Rugby to look into an increase in squad numbers for the next women’s tournament in 2029, the governing body would be open to considering it.
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The grand slam-winning match against France was England’s final game until they compete in warm-up matches, which Mitchell confirmed were happening. The dates of the games have not been confirmed but the head coach said of his team’s preparations: “We take on Spain in a warm-up in Leicester and we have this mob again [France] somewhere in the south-west.”
The players will have five weeks off before almost three months of pre-season preparation for the tournament. The centre Meg Jones, who won the grand slam on Saturday, said the upcoming competition may be the highlight of many of the squad’s careers.
“We want to make sure that we have had sufficient rest which we are going to get and then we are going to go into a home World Cup which is probably going to be the pinnacle of our careers,” Jones said. “It is going to be amazing. We just want to relish that opportunity as much as we can and not take it for granted. A home World Cup, it doesn’t come around often. The last one was 2010.”
England’s Rugby World Cup campaign gets under way on 22 August against USA in Sunderland.
