Red Roses doing their bit to fill Twickenham's green seats
During his embryonic reign as England coach John Mitchell has made no secret of his desire to help the Red Roses sell out Twickenham; to “fill the top green seats” as the Kiwi has often put it.
Mitchell once again returned to this theme in the wake of his side’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations victory against Ireland at the home of English rugby last Saturday.
It was a performance that managed to be both routine and crushing as the Red Roses toyed with the Irish in front of 48,778 fans, pulling their defensive line so far out of shape that holes appeared at alarming regularity.
By the full-time whistle the hosts had breached the try-line 14 times, including four in the final 13 minutes, as Abby Dow and player of the match Ellie Kildunne helped themselves to a hat-trick apiece.
Exactly how beneficial a hit-out it proves on the road to Bordeaux, and England’s Grand Slam decider with France this Saturday, remains to be seen. But Mitchell was adamant on Saturday that his side had found a new gear.
And according to the Kiwi head coach this was the type of performance that England need to put in on a consistent basis if they are to force the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to open all three of Twickenham’s green-seated tiers.
That is an ambition shared, of course, both by those in the corridors of power at the RFU and by the organisers of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, who hope to be able to put the sold-out signs up along Whitton Road well in advance of the tournament’s final.
Certainly, there was no sign on Saturday night that the majority of those who had arrived in Twickenham from late morning and had filled the town’s many pubs and cafes were going home in anything other than buoyant mood.
The RFU are said to be very happy with the number of fans who clicked through the turnstiles, and they have every reason to be. Saturday’s match was always going to be a harder sell than last year’s standalone fixture in south-west London purely because of the lack of jeopardy attached to it.
It is far easier to build hype and interest around a genuinely competitive match with a Grand Slam on the line, as was the case when 58,498 people turned up to watch England beat France 12 months ago, than for a contest in which the home team is expected to – and does – canter to victory.
Indeed, speaking earlier this month, RFU CEO Bill Sweeney admitted that the rate of ticket sales for the Ireland match was “probably more pleasing” than the world-record crowd against Les Bleues.
“I think that’s a real testament to the fans liking the experience,” Sweeney, who was in attendance on Saturday, added.
“The fans are really connected to the Red Roses. They want to follow their success; they want to follow their journey.”
It was imperative therefore that the RFU staged at least one of England’s Women’s Six Nations 2024 home matches at Twickenham; to both continue to nurture and grow that fanbase and to give the players more exposure to playing on that stage.
No one should forget that this was only the second time the Red Roses had played a standalone fixture at Twickenham – two-try heroine Megan Jones among those who had never experienced it previously.
Playing in front of big crowds is starting to become the norm for England, but skipper Marlie Packer had some simple words of advice to those players whose first taste of the iconic old stadium came during Friday’s captain’s run.
“Enjoy it,” she told her team-mates. “It will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand out and it’s a really special occasion, just take it in.”
Packer and England will get two more opportunities to walk onto Twickenham’s hallowed turf as the headline act this September when France and New Zealand come to town.
The size of the crowds for those two matches, a year out from the World Cup final, should prove a useful barometer for the prospect of Twickenham selling out for the showpiece match.
It will be interesting to see whether playing top-quality opposition on consecutive weekends drives ticket sales or splits the fanbase, but the RFU will be hoping for another record crowd.
Mitchell and his players can certainly do no more as they attempt to fill those green seats.
Comments on RugbyPass
I am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
84 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to comments