Why 'muted' England's dominance prompts concern

• Published17 minutes ago

Another day, another emphatic win for England.

The Red Roses jamboree roared into Bristol, attracting a record crowd for their third consecutive match at this Six Nations and bringing with it a sea of white shirts, red cowgirl hats and rose-petal headwear galore. And, most importantly, tries.

Fresh from crossing 12 times against Scotland at Murrayfield last week, England scored another 10 tries in a 62-24 victory over Wales - a result that leaves John Mitchell's side top of the table with maximum points from three matches.

With a fifth consecutive Triple Crown secured, they remain on course for a record eighth straight Women's Six Nations title.

Impressive statistics. But attack coach Emily Scarratt told BBC Two the dressing room was a little "muted" after the game.

Yes, England won comfortably and without ever losing control to extend their record unbeaten run to 36 Tests, but this wasn't the steamrollering many expected, with Wales - to use Mitchell's word - "surprising" them.

The visitors scored four tries - including two in the final 10 minutes as England's concentration wandered - to pick up a valuable bonus point, and twice profited after bamboozling England with their line-out routine.

England were, at times, guilty of poor discipline - giving away nine penalties - and sloppy handling. Improvements will need to be made by the time they face title rivals France in round five.

"You're always in a Test match when you play a team like Wales," said Scarratt. "I thought they really brought it today and posed some different challenges for us, which is pretty awesome in our development.

"We still got a pretty good job done. There's a muted sense in the group, which is obviously a really good feeling when you put a score on like that."

But while Wales fired a couple of warning shots, this was another routine win for England and one that does little to assuage concerns the Six Nations is too predictable and their dominance may not benefit themselves and the game.

• England sweep aside Wales to continue dominant run

  • Published3 hours ago

England have won 37 consecutive Six Nations matches, with their most recent defeat against France in 2018. They haven't lost to another home nation since 2015, and both Scotland and Italy are yet to beat them in the six-team format.

During that run, they've scored an average of 53.4 points per match - conceding nine - and have kept teams to 10 points or under 26 times. Only six of their wins have been by a margin smaller than 20 points - all against France.

This year alone they've scored 179 points - including 27 tries - and conceded 43 despite missing more than a dozen players because of injury, pregnancy or retirement, producing a "rusty" performance against Ireland and leaving points unscored against Wales.

Provided France play their part with victories over Ireland and Scotland - and England produce the expected one-sided win over Italy - Mitchell's side will head to Bordeaux in round five for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam decider.

Even Les Bleues - England's closest challengers with a string of second-placed finishes and narrow defeats in 2023 (38-33) and 2025 (42-41) - have only beaten them twice in the past 10 editions.

The reason for the gulf is obvious: England's level of investment has left other nations playing catch-up.

They were the first of the six teams to introduce full-time professional contracts - doing so in 2019, two years after the restructure of the domestic competition required clubs to meet a number of on and off-field minimum standards to secure a franchise in the Premiership Women's Rugby (then known as the Premier 15s).

Speaking in the Telegraph, external this week, captain Meg Jones challenged other unions to match their investment to give her fellow players the resources "they deserve". Head coach Mitchell, meanwhile, is confident "somebody will come and get us at some point".

The question is: when?

Speaking on BBC World Service's More than the Score podcast, former Scotland captain Lisa Martin said it would be five years before another team - most likely France or Ireland - beat England to the title,

"The Six Nations is so synonymous with rugby," said Martin. "But if it's constantly a thing of 'England will win it again and again', there's no jeopardy, there's no competition with regards to how matches will turn out, how the tournament will turn out.

"How long is it going to keep of interest to fans if they know what's going to happen?"

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