‘We’ve got the best players in the world’: Red Roses defiant after Canada defeats

It had been a decade since England last lost two games in a row. On Friday night, that run came to an end as Canada beat the world champions 31-22 in Ottawa to secure back-to-back victories.

Immediately after full-time, Red Roses captain Meg Jones was quick to state that her team was “not broken”, despite experiencing consecutive losses after their 41-game unbeaten run ended.

Later on, in England’s post-match press conference, Jones continued to be defiant.

“I genuinely believe we’ve got the best players in the world,” Jones said. “When we’re firing, we’re genuinely unstoppable. Just look at what this team has done over the last decade.

“We’ve changed the game in magnitudes, multiplied crowds and brought attention to us, and you take that away from what we’ve done.

“But, as I said at the beginning with the girls, high performance is based on what you do now. We don’t dwell on the past. We’re not anxious about the future. We’re focused on the present.”

The Red Roses were well beaten in Ottawa. Individual errors and a lack of intensity undermined England’s performance, allowing Canada to seize control and expose the world champions’ shortcomings.

To stats tell part of that story. Emma Sing turned over the ball three times and Jones missed six tackles. That is before even considering the midfield mix-up that led to Sophie de Goede’s first try.

England will now travel to New Jersey to take on a USA Women’s Eagles side with plenty of confidence. Conversely, this current crop of Red Roses are having to answer questions that no player of their generation has had to – how to win with the odds against them.

With a week to prepare for the Eagles, Mitchell identified execution as a key area England must improve.

“Test matches of this quality, against the best teams in the world, always come down to execution,” Mitchell said.

“We presented ourselves with many opportunities and we just didn’t quite execute when we needed to.

“That’s a reality, that’s a fact. That’s no one’s fault. It’s not a judgement; it’s purely the reality of what you receive when you don’t nail it.”