“That was ideal for us,” John Mitchell reflected, about as content as any coach can be when their side have threatened to throw away a game they had led 31-7 after just 24 minutes. It was Twickenham in April and the England head coach, perhaps after a deep exhale of relief, was taking the positives from a 43-42 thriller where France had roared back to within a point of spoiling the Red Roses party. In the process, they had revealed flaws seldom so strikingly seen in a dominant side, glitches in the relentless winning machine; for only the second time in Mitchell’s tenure, England looked truly vulnerable.
So why, then, was the Red Roses head coach so upbeat? Well, Mitchell’s comments were made very much with this week in mind. It was always a virtual certainty that England would cruise through to the semi-final stage, a side beaten once in 62 outings not likely to slip-up even with the stakes and scrutiny raised, but come the crunch – or Le Crunch, as this fixture is known – the lessons learned in close combat are hoped to serve England better than anything gleamed from their more recent thrashings. There was almost an extra energy about Mitchell and captain Zoe Aldcroft on Thursday, a palpable sense of pleasure as the intensity ratchets up. It is for these weeks, and the next fortnight specifically, that England continue to drive standards internally.
