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John Mitchell was in New Zealand to see England win the inaugural WXV tournament and now takes charge of the Red Roses as they build towards the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. So what should be on his to-do list as he sets about guiding England to success on home soil?
Immerse himself in women’s rugby
Mitchell has an amazing CV but there is nothing on it in women’s rugby, so he needs to get out there. He needs to watch Premiership Women’s Rugby matches but also to go down to club training sessions, to meet coaches and players, to get an understanding of all things women’s rugby.
Yes, it is rugby regardless of gender but there are differences. For example, professionalism is not yet the same as in the men’s game. There are different challenges and learning about them needs to be his big focus.
Get to know the players
Gary Street had coached a lot of players through the ranks before he got to England; Simon Middleton was also with the team for a long period of time. Mitchell needs to meet the players individually and understand things from their perspective. What do they think needs to be improved?
It is like a new CEO in a business: For the first 100 days they will want to understand the employees and get their perspective on what is working and what is not working. Mitchell needs to hear the players’ side of things, to make an effort to get to know them individually and find out what direction they think England need to go in.
Forge a bond with captain Packer
The captain and head coach of a team are a unit. Yes, there are leadership groups but the captain is ultimately the link between the players and the management.
Sarah Hunter and Simon Middleton had a really long relationship as captain and head coach, and the strength in their relationship shows how strong the team was. It is the same with Steve Borthwick and Owen Farrell or Siya Kolisi and Rassie Erasmus in the men’s game.
I think Mitchell should stick with Marlie Packer as captain – she has the respect of players, they follow her and, most importantly, she has maintained her performances since taking over from Hunter. Marlie is already inspiring the team and the onus is on him to build a relationship with her.
Obviously players can get injured or lose form, so it is also important to develop other leaders in the set-up – Middleton did this well – and he will likely give people additional responsibility and exposure so they are ready to step up if needed.
Build the team behind the team
When a new prime minister comes in, they want to make sure the cabinet contains people they trust and who can do the job. It is the same with a head coach.
He has a coaching team of Sarah Hunter as transition coach, Lou Meadows as attack coach and Louis Deacon, who stepped up to interim head coach during WXV, as forwards coach. It is important for him to build relationships with the team behind the team and see if anything needs to be added. He has got to make sure he has the right people around him.
I think they could do with adding a scrum coach – it is such a significant part of the game. There is also nothing wrong with bringing in external expertise now and then, say a kicking specialist.
Broaden the game plan
The biggest issue at the 2022 World Cup was the game plan was very forward-orientated, through line-outs and scrums. We have seen more variety since, albeit that the level of competition is not always testing, and it is important for England to have different ways to play, particularly against different opposition. It is about broadening England’s game, having various different plans.
What you do not want is for England to go into the 2025 World Cup and be predictable. England need to have different ways to play, so come 2025 opposition teams do not know what to expect.
Develop a World Cup mindset
People talk about Eddie Jones and his World Cup focus when in charge of England men, but the big difference for Mitchell is that England are winning; Eddie was saying hang on for the World Cup when the team was going through ups and downs.
Mitchell’s one goal is to win the 2025 World Cup. He has less than two years and his job is to see what needs to be done to make sure England win that tournament. The RFU have thrown a lot behind 2025 and the big ambition is to get the whole nation gripped.
England have had success between World Cups but their biggest challenge has been performing at World Cups – they could not do it in 2017 or 2022. The biggest issue is understanding how to win in those crucial moments: that mentality.
An important part of our win in 2014 was having a psychologist in our team who helped change the mindset of players so it was about performing for the person next to you. That was the turning point for us.
Losing two World Cup finals is significant, so it is finding the missing ingredient and addressing that area around mindset.
John Mitchell’s first priority must be to get up to speed with women’s game
England women’s new head coach must get to know his squad and develop a World Cup mindset if Red Roses are to triumph on home soil in 2025