To go from world champions to Six Nations also-rans in the space of seven months may have a worryingly familiar ring to it at RFU headquarters, but the England women’s interim head coach, Nicky Ponsford, believes any talk of decline is premature.
The 21-15 defeat to France on Saturday – their second in a row to les bleues at Twickenham – ended whatever slim hopes England had of getting their hands on the Six Nations for the first time since 2012.
Heather Millar-Mills’ late try at least made a game of it as England denied France the points they needed for a second successive title – the championship instead going to Ireland after their record 73-3 win in Scotland on Sunday – but of more concern is that it was a third defeat of the tournament for a team that bears little resemblance to the World Cup victors last August.
Comparisons with what happened to their male counterparts after their 2003 World Cup triumph are therefore inevitable, not least because the head coach who had delivered success – in the women’s case Gary Street – has left his role under somewhat unexplained circumstances.
Ponsford, however, who now returns to her position as head of performance as Simon Middleton combines coaching the sevens side with the XVs, believes the foundations have been laid for a successful 2017 World Cup campaign.
“As I said at the very start, we always knew that this Six Nations campaign was going to be difficult,” said Ponsford, whose side ended the campaign in fourth place, below Italy for the first time in championship history.
“We’ve had nine new caps but we’ve had a significant number of those playing well against France. We’ve brought a number of new players in and a number of them have really stood up. That’s the biggest bonus we’ve got out of this. We knew we were going to get some new players but to see some of those like Abbie Scott, you have to say that all the heartache is worth it.”
Singling out Scott for praise comes as little surprise. Against France she was the spearhead of an England pack that lacks the power it had when the now retired Maggie Alphonsi was smashing every breakdown in sight but the 21-year-old lock is not the only youngster to demonstrate she has a long international future ahead of her.
The scrum-half Bianca Blackburn has excelled this campaign, dovetailing well with the fly-half and captain, Katy Mclean, while the 18-year-old centre Abbie Brown has also caught the eye.
Nonetheless, the defeat at Twickenham was not an easy one to stomach. The smothering France pack squeezed the life out of England until a late second-half rally but the hosts were second best for the most part.
The France full-back Jessy Trémoulière kicked 11 points and grabbed her side’s second try after the captain, Gaëlle Mignot, had gone over in the first half and while Hannah Gallagher also touched down for England, the required converted try never looked like materialising in the closing minutes.
Still, compared to the shock 13-0 defeat to Wales with which England opened their campaign, the improvements are obvious, as Ponsford was quick to point out.
“There were lots of positives, particularly in that second half we actually started to play some rugby and do the things that we were trying to do,” she said. “As I said to the players at the end, from where we were when we played the Wales game, I think we’ve made a step on every game that we’ve played and that’s what we set out to do.
“Ultimately this is a step on the journey and we’ve taken small steps on since the Wales game. We didn’t do ourselves any favours in that match. The Ireland game was really tough to lose with a penalty right at the end of the game but we’ve put in some good performances.”
England Pocock; Laybourn, Reed, Large (Brown, 39; Mason, 79), Thompson; Mclean (capt), Blackburn (Davidson, 54); Clark (Cornborough, 73), Fleetwood (Cokayne, 68), Lucas, Taylor (Burnfield, 75), Scott, Gallagher, Field (Millar-Mills 17), Matthews.
Tries Gallagher, Millar-Mills. Con Reed. Pen Reed.
France Trémoulière; Heguy (Mayans, 42), Izar, Poublan, Billes (Gonzalez, 74); Abadie (Boujard, 61), Rivoalen (Troncy, 59); Arricastre (Divoux, 74), Mignot (capt), Carricaburu (Duval, 42), Andre, Forlani (Rayssac, 54), Diallo (Pin, 71), Grand, N’Diaye.
Sin bin Izar 27.
Tries Mignot, Trémoulière. Con Trémoulière. Pens Trémoulière 3.
Referee Alhambra Nievas (Sp)
