Claire Thomas column: The Red Roses are learning to win without winning

It’s a cliché – but, these days, you don’t lose: you learn.

Defeats are simply an opportunity to get better, and experiences only wasted if they don’t lead to forward motion. If evolution is the outcome, then don’t sweat the process, and it’s no bad thing to snap a win streak if it galvanises the next one. Capiche?

If we’re going with that, then Red Roses – Canada ending in a dead heat was the *perfect* result for the world champions.

Their unbeaten run – phew – rumbles on, but 26-26 delivered quite the wake-up call, and forced England to plumb depths which had grown, frankly, dusty.

Maybe they really do train harder than they’re required to play each year in the procession that is the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, but plenty of them had never been in an amphitheatre quite like the one they found themselves sharing with the Canucks.

Then, before 60,000 on Saturday, they had to go to the very bottom of the well again, against snarling Black Ferns – and watching them problem solve, whilst emptying those vast tanks, has been sensational.

Better yet: we’ve been able to watch genuinely unsure as to whether or not it’d be enough.

The Red Roses are box office. The Red Roses teetering on a tightrope? Enthralling.

Here’s another truism for you: knowledge is power.

As Meg Jones pointed out at full-time in Exeter – as sighs of relief echoed around a sold-out Sandy Park – England would ‘get a lot of feedback’ from their historic streak being curtailed.

We’ve since learned how much the result stung, and – in so many ways – felt like a loss, but their head coach was even more chuffed with it than his captain.

“This is ideal for us: it’s about getting better,” he enthused. “There’s a bigger purpose than just this Test match.”

Indeed, we saw improvements the very next week: in their edge defence, their gain line return and their ruthless, choreographed pursuit of a last-minute penalty within range for Zoe Harrison. The kick was no good, but we all know what happened next.

Their ‘consecutive wins’ tally might have been lopped down to a dinky ‘one’, but their ‘undefeated’ count remains colossal – which is, really, all that matters. The Red Roses are becoming tough to beat – a team who’ll rootle around every single corner of their feathered, crimson cowboy hat until they grasp a rabbit. When life is a series of cake walks, it’s very hard to develop the ability to retaliate with your back against the ropes – but, this month, they’ve had plenty of practice roaring up off canvases.

Two matches, against the biggest threats to their supremacy, within the space of eight days – across which the gap on the scoreboard never stretched wider than seven. Between those epic encounters, and the sudden arrival of a small but omnipotent 59-year-old from Wigan – and England might just have grown more this month than they have in years.

That critical, top-two-inches development aside, here are a few golden nuggets we spied this September:

Attack

This is visibly evolving, resulting in flashes of magic. There was such appetite to the Roses’ support play and their peerless desire to get it wide, and that they managed ten clean breaks to the Black Ferns’ three – despite having hardly any ball, is testament to what they’re honing under Emily Scarratt.

No nation offloaded more this September, either.

Their carry-clean is becoming a volatile Achilles heel. Australia turned them over six times, Canada nine, and New Zealand four [concerning, when you consider that England only garnered 50 attacking rucks]. They’re zippy as anything from the deck, but only when they protect it: across all 12 WXV Series teams, England’s ruck retention is currently a lowly eleventh.

Defence

“You’re all showing off for Shaun Edwards!” – Meg Jones cackled from Saturday’s full-time huddle, and – as is so often the case – she was right. Her women had thrown themselves into 283 tackles, completing 90% of them – against a nation renowned for their agility, pace, and power – which is nothing less than extraordinary.

Edwards’ name came up over and over during the weekend’s coverage, and was met each and every time with genuine warmth and reverence. There’s a case to be made that, all of a sudden, the Red Roses’ coaching ticket is stronger than England men’s…

Set-piece

We already knew that their scrum is a monster. The past fortnight’s confirmed that it’s – specifically – a hydra. You lop off Mackenzie Carson and Sarah Bern, and up pop a beaming Maud Muir and smirking Hannah Botterman – whilst Bryony Field and May Campbell have held the fort courageously, baptised with nothing but flames, in the absence of titans.

If the coaching staff can usher through the likes of Annabel Meta, Aisha Jah, Lucy Simpson, Hayley Jones, and Amelia Williams – they’ll be all-but untouchable here.

Monstrous in a different way is their line-out, which [mal]functioned at 67% in Twickenham, and is – doubtless – in Canadian cross-hairs.

Personnel

Zoe Harrison will surely win World Player of the Year.

She and Maddie Feaunati are the first names on any John Mitchell team sheet – along with Meg Jones.

Hannah Botterman’s ability to steal ball with her heels on her own whitewash needs to be studied.

Abbie Ward and Zoe Stratford’s absence has left a gulf in IQ and accuracy within that pack’s output which they’ve not yet filled.

Ellie Kildunne has the unique ability to spend the first half of a match kicking it out on the full, and then come up with a world-class moment in the second which changes the complexion of an all-time classic.

Mitchell awarded just the one cap this block, which is testament to the calibre of the Roses’ opposition – as is the fact he left three replacements unused on Saturday. Given how well Jack Hanratty’s USA Women’s Eagles have been going, those would-be debutants might not feature at all in 2026.

AOBs

Their discipline’s been immaculate: a squeaky clean seven penalties per outing, and not a single card. So impressive.

That fabled ‘gap’ between England and The Rest of the World is closing.

The PWR trophy is staying in London, and we’ll probably get another Saracens-Trailfinders final. Cast your eyes over those two rosters, and tell us we’re wrong.

Next year’s British & Irish Lions Tour just got even tastier.