England coach Mitchell to stay past home World Cup

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) has confirmed that England women’s head coach John Mitchell will continue in the role even if the Red Roses don’t win the Rugby World Cup at home this year.

Regardless of the outcome of the World Cup’s opening match in August, Mitchell, 61, and his England coaching staff have all signed contracts until June 2026.

England lost to New Zealand in the previous two World Cup finals, which was last won in 2014.

Results are important, according to Conor O’Shea, RFU director of rugby performance. “You don’t want people thinking about what their next job will be by having their contracts expire that day,” he said.

The men’s team failed to leave their pool at a 2015 World Cup in their absence, and the Red Roses lost the 2010 World Cup final to New Zealand on home soil.

Over the course of the next four or five months, Mitch [John Mitchell] will try to relieve that pressure from the group while also dealing with it and coming up with solutions, O’Shea continued.

Anyone who has successfully guided the All Blacks, England, the United States, and Japan will understand how to block out noise while also using pressure in a really effective way.

In a 43-42 thriller at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham on Saturday, England comfortably won their first four games of the Women’s Six Nations before holding on to defeat France by a point.

To extend their winning streak to 25 games, the victory gave them a fourth successive Grand Slam and seventh Six Nations title in a row.

The Black Ferns’ World Cup final defeat in 2022, when the Red Roses and Les Bleues squared off, was the closest the series had ever come to an end.

Anyone who believes they will win a World Cup because they are the hosts is lying to themselves, ex-Harlequins rugby director O’Shea continued.

The RFU continues to invest £15 million annually, keeping England’s women from making a profit.

However, there are green shoots, with ticket sales increasing by 391% over the previous four years.

Despite losing the women’s game overall, they have collected £2.4 million in ticket sales just last season.

It’s not all about making money, said RFU director of the women’s game Alex Teasdale. In the end, I believe our purpose is to help the game grow.

37, 573 people tuned in to Allianz Stadium for last Saturday’s victory over France, a significant decrease from the 58, 498 people who also watched the same game in 2023.

Teasdale says: “We have got rugby world cup tickets on sale at the moment as well,” noting that Teasdale is not concerned by the figures.

Between Premiership Women’s Rugby and the RFU, we sold 250, 000 tickets for (women’s) rugby in England this year, according to “an interesting kind of stat from this season.”

We are in for more than a million tickets this year when you add the Rugby World Cup tickets to that (275, 000).

500 red cowboy hats were sold in the official stadium stores and outlets, one small success from the Allianz game.

Ellie Kildunne and Megan Jones, two Red Roses players who self-declared as the cowboys, are the owners of the hats.

About two hours before kick-off, Teasdale said the demand for hats “would need to significantly increase for the World Cup.”

Given that the Red Roses are known for having a very strong influence and background in their kind of country, she continued, “The cowboy hats are just really important in our trying to create a really strong fan engagement piece.”