NORTHAMPTON, England -- Red Roses head coach John Mitchell says there's still room improvement as England ran up a record score in their 92-3 dismantling of Samoa at Franklin's Gardens in the Women's World Cup on Saturday.
England scored 14 tries as they broke previous records both for winning margin and points scored in a Women's Rugby World Cup match. The Red Roses were much-changed with Mitchell making 13 alterations from the starting lineup that ended up defeating the USA 69-7 in their tournament opener, but there was no let-up in England's intensity and ruthlessness.
The victory all but books their place in the knockout stages of a tournament where they are overwhelming favourites to lift the trophy come Sept. 27.
- Women's RWC: Breach stars in record England win
- Amy Cokayne: The RAF officer powering England's scrum
- Halse shines to become Australia's youngest World Cup debutant
Mitchell was delighted with several performances, no less the 27-point haul from Helena Rowland at fly-half and the hat trick from Jess Breach, but he still sees some areas where England can step things up. One section of the match was the end of the first half and start of the second 40 where the Red Roses made a few, rare, errors.
"There is always something to fix in this game," Mitchell said. "If you are going to mark it hard you would ask why we didn't build pressure during that period and our basics let us down. But we wouldn't be human if we didn't have something to fix."
"Jess was very good at her one-on-one duels. She can find half a metre, and she'll burn you," Mitchell added. "She's confident and she's done a lot of work to put herself in that position. When she's like that, she's outstanding.
"Helena was outstanding. She has got a great skill set. She probed the game well. The girls fed off her direction and she directed the attack really well to allow us to go forward. She can hunt weakness through her pace. It was an outstanding example of a triple threat."
Rowland added: "I am very pleased, the conditions weren't in our favour and we adapted to that. We played some good rugby. With a squad that had so many changes, it felt really cohesive.
"It's a decent turn out considering the conditions, we could hear each and every fan and it really does make a difference."