John Mitchell happy for England to ‘go route one’ again if conditions demand
Dominance in the forwards propelled the Red Roses to last week’s rout of Scotland.
England have vowed to continue exploiting their forward dominance if it offers the best route to victory in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final against France at Ashton Gate.
Head coach John Mitchell and prop Hannah Botterman insist the Red Roses will have no hesitation in capitalising on the strength of their maul and scrum after pulverising Scotland in driving rain last weekend.
Of the 38 tries England have scored in their four World Cup matches to date, 22 have been supplied by their all-conquering pack.
Mitchell makes no apologies for the direct approach, declaring “I don’t really care what other people think”, but says his team posses a variety of tools to get the job done.
“We’ve demonstrated over the last three years that we can play any particular way,” said Mitchell ahead of the showdown in Bristol where light showers have been forecast.
“If you look at the conditions that we were exposed to last weekend, it’d be pretty b***** stupid of us to not use that strength and go route one.
“And if the weather’s going to continue that way then we’ll still be building pressure in that area. But we do have the ability to play any particular way. Who knows which way we’ll go?
