Red Roses must relish unfamiliar pressure in quest for World Cup glory

England’s players congratulate each other after the full time whistle in a game where they were tested by the Wallaroos in some unexpected ways. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters

You can measure a good team by how many they’ve won, or you can measure them by how many they might have lost but didn’t. The Red Roses are well ahead on the first count, they’re on a 30-match winning streak now, and have suffered just the one, solitary, defeat in the last six years.

But it’s less clear what their other tally is. Their one-point victory over France in the final match of this year’s Six Nations was the only time they’ve had to confront the possibility of losing in the last few months, and even in that match they led from start to finish.