The image of England captain Marlie Packer lifting a trophy surrounded by her team-mates is becoming a common one.
Packer collected her fourth trophy in the past 18 months following England’s 21-12 victory over Canada in Vancouver on Saturday.
The victory – the team’s 20th in a row – ensured the Red Roses retained the WXV1 title and marked the second consecutive year the world’s number one side have won both WXV1 and a Six Nations Grand Slam.
They have now won 50 out of 51 games. It has been complete domination, other than the one that counts the most – the Rugby World Cup final against New Zealand in 2022 which ended a record-breaking 30-match winning run.
Next year the main focus for England will be lifting the World Cup on home soil.
There is no debate that victory is now expected, but are Packer’s side better equipped to seal the deal this time around?
Entertaining attack and winning ugly
England’s bid to win the last World Cup ended in dramatic fashion when the Black Ferns pinched a line-out in the last play of the final to seal their triumph.
Under former coach Simon Middleton, England relied heavily on their hugely successful driving maul and scored four tries through it in the final, but that play came unstuck when it mattered most.
After the misery of missing out on winning a first World Cup since 2014, former All Blacks coach John Mitchell took over last year to bring about change.
His remit was to be ruthless to ensure the added pressure of a home World Cup ends differently, and preferably not left to the final play.
A move to a well-rounded style, based on Mitchell’s core attacking philosophy of getting his best attacking backs on the ball in space, followed.
Four first-half tries against the world champions in September to all but wrap up the game showed the progress, but Mitchell was disappointed his side did not keep their “foot on the throat” after letting their rivals back into the game.
The next time they met the world champions, at WXV1, the lethal back three of Ellie Kildunne, Jess Breach and Abby Dow scored a combined seven tries for a second convincing win.
With their backs struggling to click in attack, England were not at their best in the title decider against Canada, but Mitchell’s side managed two second-half tries through their pack to show they can still ‘win ugly’ when required.
‘The gap is closing’
England have rarely looked troubled under Mitchell, with Canada offering by far their most difficult test.
The WXV1 hosts, whose players are still part-time, backed up their pre-game claims that they can win the World Cup.
They were made to rue missed opportunities when leading in the second half but demonstrated why they are considered the side most likely to stop England lifting the World Cup at the Allianz Stadium on 27 September.
“It is a big year next year and we will come out on top when it matters,” Canada captain Alex Tessier said.
“The goal is still the World Cup but we are still growing, we are definitely there but there is a lot of stuff to learn.”
Canada have also beaten New Zealand in 2024, but the Black Ferns have a history of peaking at World Cups and should not be written off.
France seem to have stalled but Ireland, under former England women’s attack coach Scott Bemand, are making significant progress.
They shocked the world champions in their WXV1 opener to continue their rapid rise after winning WXV3 last year and finishing third in the Women’s Six Nations.
Australia, now coached by former England captain Jo Yapp, overcame Scotland to win the WXV2 title and are starting to show promise.
“The gap might not be closing mathematically, but it is closing in terms of the way people are playing and being coached,” Mitchell said.
“All the other teams have really good coaching groups, they are all getting better. For us our challenge is to get better.
“It is also about how special it is going to be to play a World Cup at home, something that we can impact on other people for the rest of our lives.”
