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Mitchell brands Red Roses as 'terrific' as they secure semi-final in style
By Joe Harvey at Ashton Gate, Bristol
John Mitchell branded the Red Roses as “terrific” as they sauntered past Scotland to claim a 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup semi-final spot.
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England scored six tries against the Scots at a furiously wet Ashton Gate Stadium to win 40-8, won their 31st game in a row and set a date with France in the last four next Saturday afternoon.
Kelsey Clifford scored a brace in Bristol, whole Morwenna Talling dotted down in a Mastercard Player of the Match outing, Abby Dow registered her 50th Test try, while Amy Cokayne and Holly Aitchison completed the rout.
There was no wavering of confidence from England. From start to finish the side were in full stride and did not even seem phased when Helen Nelson opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a penalty.
Dominant at the set piece, able to implement their kicking game effectively and relentless with ball-in-hand, it was as comprehensive a performance as England have put together at the World Cup to date.
“I thought it was a terrific performance in very difficult conditions,” Mitchell said. “We kept them in their own half, and we built pressure frequently through our set-piece.
“That’s where we thought we could break them. The pressure by the team was superb. The only little glitch was conceding the line-break late in the game, which is something I don’t really enjoy.”
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Even in a strong team performance there were individual standouts for England.
In her first start of the tournament Holly Aitchison put her hand up at fly-half and even finished the game at inside centre when Zoe Harrison was introduced to the fray with just less than a quarter to go.
Morwenna Talling has continued to prove how invaluable she is to England too. Due to turn 23 two days after the World Cup final, she has hardly put a foot wrong in any of her three outings so far in this tournament.
Throw in Helena Rowland’s boundless talent, Abby Dow’s voraciousness and Maud Muir’s all-court game, and it is very much a statement afternoon.
Now with six days to prepare for France, the Red Roses have a good idea of who they are coming up against.
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This year in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam decider just one point stood between the teams at the end of a 44-43 slug-fest and it was also Les Bleues that acted as England’s final warm-up opposition before the World Cup got underway.
Earlier on Sunday afternoon England watched from afar as the French blew hot and cold in Exeter. After being 13-0 down at half-time, Scott Bemand’s Ireland could not match their first-half efforts and conceded 18 unanswered points in the second 40.
At full-time Red Roses skipper, Zoe Aldcroft, who returned to the starting line-up after missing pool matches against Samoa and Australia with injury, wants to keep to the same message that had taken her team into the semi-finals.
“We are just so pleased,” Aldcroft said. “Conditions played a bit of a role today, but we are super excited to attack this week heading into that semi-final.
“We’re going to keep where our feet are. We love preparing well so we’ll make sure we get a good training week in to put ourselves in the best place heading into the semi-final against France.”