1,001 days and counting – unbeatable England in ideal World Cup shape

One thousand and one days and counting.

That is how long it has been since England lost a match, which agonisingly came in the final of the 2022 World Cup against hosts and perennial champions New Zealand.

It is a winning streak that now stretches to 27 games following a comprehensive 40-6 away victory in France, which served as England’s final warm-up before the home 2025 World Cup.

And this was a win which, perhaps more than any of the previous 26, sends a statement that the Red Roses are the team to beat.

France are no slouches. Ranked fourth in the world, they pushed England all the way in a 43-42 thriller during the Six Nations in April. There is a strong possibility these sides will meet at Ashton Gate in Bristol for a World Cup semi-final.

But this England side, bursting with physicality, confidence and a sense of destiny, chose this moment to register their biggest winning margin over the French for 30 matches, a run stretching back to 2009.

That winning margin owed as much to not conceding a try as it did to scoring six, with head coach John Mitchell crediting defence coach Sarah Hunter, who captained England in the World Cup three years ago.

“Sarah’s a very good coach,” he said. “She understands our system very well. She understands the girls very well and they love her to bits as well, they respect her hugely.

“It’s very helpful that she’s been part of the system from day one. There’s been a few areas that we’ve looked at and we feel that if we keep looking at those we’ll eventually get the transfer.”

This XV which started at Stade Andre et Guy Boniface in Mont-de-Marsan is likely to be very similar to the one which commences the World Cup campaign in 13 days’ time against the United States at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.

There were 11 changes to the team which hammered Spain 97-7, including world player of the year Ellie Kildunne returning to the back line.

Kildunne was not able to add to a record of 14 tries in her last 10 Tests, but showed moments that indicate why she could be the star of the World Cup.

One player who stole the spotlight and perhaps inked their name on the cast list for opening night is fly-half Zoe Harrison.

One of four players to keep their starting spot from the win over Spain, Harrison did not let seeing her first conversion rebound off the posts to put her off.

A large part of England’s success in France came through kicking for the corner, dominating the line-out then rolling a maul over the tryline. Harrison’s kicking was pinpoint and lengthy, allowing the plan to function.

Holly Aitchison has been the main rival for the 10 shirt in recent years, but Harrison has definitely put her best foot forward in the run up to the World Cup.

Other spots are uncertain. Only one of the six tries was scored by a back – centre Megan Jones. Given their wealth of riches in that area, they should produce more.

And of course we have been here before. During the last World Cup England were on a long winning run and reliant on tries scored via forward power. They will need to find other routes in August and September.

There are players to return. Wing Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Aitchison, contenders for starting spots in a first-choice backline, are still managing knocks, as is veteran centre Emily Scarratt, who suffered a head injury before her fifth World Cup.

Mitchell may be asking for daily medical updates on those three.

Among the forwards, it was all positive in the south of France. Following such a dominant display and some standout moments from open-side Sadia Kabeya, it will be fascinating to see if Marlie Packer returns to the back row.

The 35-year-old flanker is a Red Roses legend, but was not missed amid a suspension because of her red card against Spain.

After the match Mitchell highlighted the performances of prop Maud Muir, Kabeya and his captain Zoe Aldcroft, who also praised try-scorer Muir.

“Maud is a fantastic player,” Aldcroft said. “She’s an absolute bulldozer in attack, and in the scrum as well she’s formidable. She’s very quick, deceptively quick, and very powerful.”

As far as headaches go, there are only fairly mild ones for Mitchell. A few things to tidy up, with a mind on those painful final losses to New Zealand, but these are minor script tweaks, not a full rewrite.

He added: “We’re going to be thrown a lot of challenges when the tournament starts so we’ve just got be ready for anything and to be able to adapt, and the girls have managed this particular week very, very well.

“It’s a privilege to have pressure. We’ve earnt it over the three-year cycle so it’s not something we are going to walk away from, we’re going to walk towards it.”