Archive September 27, 2025

Ellie Kildunne waited too long. once more.

The England full-back’s tardiness is infamous among her team-mates. She had a valid excuse this time, though. Due to the consequences of losing a bet at training, she had to arrive later at dinner.

For the team’s evening meal, she was forced to straighten her mop of curly hair.

She said, “I keep my word. “It’s only hair”.

It’s just hair, but it also serves as a crucial indicator of how environmentally friendly England wanted to be during this Rugby World Cup.

Not everyone in the Red Roses camp enjoyed the three-year-old New Zealand campaign.

In a June episode of her Rugby Rodeo podcast, Wing Jess Breach, who only played one game in England’s final, unrepeatedly and bluntly described her 2022 experience.

She described her hopes for England’s 2025 campaign as “I don’t want to have resentment and I don’t want to think of it in just a negative way.”

I don’t want people to be in the squad and experience the same emotions as I did in the first one.

Not always being able to do that. Over the course of a lengthy tournament, weekly selection calls consistently put pressure on a squad’s unity.

Head coach John Mitchell acknowledged this, claiming that “a few” of his squad members still “validate too much in their life around selection.”

However, Mitchell has also praised the maturity with which the majority of his players handled his calls. Everyone is kept involved, regardless of their role on match day, which has been helped by a conscious, collective effort.

The squad wore pyjamas and face masks during Step Up, an early Channing Tatum film, for the semi-final week.

Different groups have developed their own routines outside of the scheduled sessions.

In honor of the locations of each of England’s games, Meg Jones and Hannah Botterman have both been tattooed in honor of their body art. After Sunderland’s first game of the season in the north east, the pair had cats inked in a reference to the football team’s nickname, the Black Cats.

Following that, ice creams for Brighton and a nod to Northampton’s most well-known local industry were served, finishing off the poolside show. Jones was considering flying a hot air balloon to Bristol to celebrate their semi-final.

Memories and remembrances have been gathered in scrapbooks by Props MacKenzie Carson, Maud Muir, and Kelsey Clifford.

A small book club is led by Tatiana Heard and Lark Atkin Davies.

Gaming has been done with an old-fashioned twist. Rummikub, a tile-based game inspired by the card game Rummy, is being played by Muir and Jones, and Kildunne has introduced the Guitar Hero console game.

All of it helped to reduce the pressure of being both heavy favorites and hosts.

Be where our feet are, a mantra that the camp has repeatedly said.

Instead of anticipating what might be or reflecting on how far they have come, the idea is to be present and not to let go of one’s mistakes.

However, the squad hasn’t been completely shielded from the outside excitement surrounding their progress.

A large pinboard with good luck messages from primary school students from different countries confronted them one morning as they were making their way to the training pitch.

Both footballing royalty and royalty have also made post-game appearances in the dressing room, with Chloe Kelly, who won the Euros, expressing her gratitude for their victory over Samoa.

After a scoreless opening half against Australia in Brighton, Catherine, Princess of Wales, complained to the team that she was worried. The team gave her a bouquet of knitted red roses as a gift, and winning Abby Dow is the team’s most prolific crocheter.

On game day, the squad shows signs of team unity.

Emily Scarratt, a veteran of the team’s most recent successful title tilt, has been playing the lottery for the people who came in before her. She will be competing in her fifth World Cup.

Abi Burton purchased a drum with a full percussion support section after a similarly short game of a length.

One of those who enthusiastically wrestled the drumsticks was Kildunne, who had concussion while she was unable to play in the quarter-final match against Scotland.

Botterman typically manages the pre-game music, while an external specialist, the Braid Maidens, weave the players’ intricate braids into place on the morning of the match because it became too time-consuming for them to do their own thing.

Captain Zoe Aldcroft’s superstitions are the most interesting among the squad’s. She packs a small knitted replica of the legendary England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, which a friend’s grandmother made for her when Aldcroft was a teenager, in her game-day bag.

Ruben Amorim, the head coach of Manchester United, stated that he is not concerned about his job when another day’s progress was followed by another back.

In a 3-1 defeat at Brentford, United remain firmly in the bottom half of the Premier League, losing the optimism brought about by the victory over Chelsea seven days prior.

In Amorim’s 33 league games, United has still managed to win 34 points in a row.

After last season’s disappointing 15th-place finish, Amorim has yet to experience the promised improvement, and he was forced to make further decisions regarding his future.

“It’s not my choice,” I said. Every minute I’m here, I’ll do everything I can.

The former Sporting boss has been repeatedly praised for his support, but it is on days like this when that belief is questioned and ensured that the inquest is thorough with no midweek games to distract from it.

Ashley Williams, a former Wales midfielder, told BBC Final Score: “I don’t want to say they change managers, but how long can this go on? We seem to be talking about it every week.

I support managers who adopt a certain style. That isn’t working. You must change.

“Unless they change their manager, I don’t see where Manchester United should go with this.”

They don’t look good enough, ex-Arsenal defender Martin Keown said. When you examine it further, Graham Potter’s win percentage is only 1% higher than Graham Potter’s, who has been fired. He’s still doing what he does.

Amorim’s issue is that, according to him, his messaging is ineffective.

United’s worst season since 2019 saw United extend their search for an away win to eight games, including Bruno Fernandes’ second missed penalty of three this year.

No team has allowed United to score the first goal in more league games since Amorim’s tenure started in November.

He claimed that his players had worked on Brentford’s likely gameplan, including playing long balls into the forward positions, particularly behind the wide central defenders Luke Shaw and Matthijs de Ligt, but the execution was disappointing.

We worked on the “the goals today,” Asorim said. That frustrates me.

“I observe the men training. Sometimes, when things are really difficult, they seem different from one another in the video games. But the club is under that pressure.

Some observers believe that Amorim’s 3-4-2 system, which he vehemently opposes, is the cause.

Keith Andrews, a rookie Brentford manager, showed flexibility by switching from the five-man defence he used to play at Fulham last weekend to a back four, which, he claimed, “gave us a better base and fluidity in midfield.”

Micah Richards, a former Manchester City defender, compared the game for Match of the Day with less diplomatic demeanor.

He claimed that Amorim’s stubbornness in what he’s trying to accomplish could eventually lead to his demise.

The owners may be backing him, but ultimately it just doesn’t work, according to the statement.

Richards called the two goals United conceded in the opening 20 minutes “shambolic”

Harry Maguire attempted to play offside in the first, but the halfway point was a yard off.

Altay Bayindir pushed a low cross into the danger zone as United’ defense made use of Kevin Schade’s opening play for the second period.

Brazilian forward Igor Thiago capitalized on both occasions.

Amorim’s strategy was presumably protected, but that’s what happened.

It’s not the system when we win, they say. The system is what causes us to lose. He said, “I get it,” his sarcasm dripping from his lips.

Amorim’s criticism of the assessment raises fundamental issues that shouldn’t be addressed so frequently throughout his tenure.

When Amorim was asked what he thought of the setback, he responded, “It’s like ups and downs.”

You feel everything and the momentum are there when you win, “here. When you lose, you return to the starting position and attempt to regain momentum.

Every time I lose the game, I cannot tell you more than I do.

“Sometimes you see a team that performs really well and sees improvements, and then you have some games where you don’t see the improvement that gives you the confidence to say Manchester United will win.