Mitchell praises Red Roses' winning mentality
Red Roses head coach John Mitchell was full of praise for his side following their 21-42 victory over France in Bordeaux
England scored points through tries from Maud Muir, Meg Jones, Marlie Packer and Amy Cokayne, as well as an Alex Matthews brace and six conversions from Holly Aitchison.
France responded with tries from Gabrielle Vernier and a Marine Menager double, but a dominant Red Roses performance retained the Guinness Women's Six Nations trophy for a sixth successive year.
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Mitchell, who joined the Red Roses coaching setup in October 2023, has commended his squad's attitude to improvement.
"To be given the opportunity to coach the Red Roses was a really easy decision for me. This team has a winning mentality and they want to get better. We’ve set a good benchmark in this tournament in terms of sending a message to everyone about how we want to play and approach the game."
Memories of previous encounters with France would have been in the minds of England players heading into this year's contest. Last year's record-breaking fixture at Twickenham finished 38-33 after a second-half France comeback.
"We always knew this was going to be an arm wrestle. We’ve been looking forward to that for some time now, and the girls stood up really well today. You can never underestimate this tournament, it’s our bread and butter and where we earn our respect.
"We wanted to stay the best, and we've chipped away and been able to achieve that. We’re still driven by filling Twickenham and the girls deserve this kind of environment. They’ve earned it."
