Usually a head coach sticks with his main starting fly-half and builds the rest of the team accordingly.
But that has not been the case with Mitchell this Six Nations – the New Zealander has used three different fly-halves across four games.
Utility back Helena Rowland started the opening-round win over Italy, with Saracens’ Zoe Harrison starting the back-to-back victories over Wales and Ireland.
Holly Aitchison, who was Mitchell’s main 10 last year, started her first game at fly-half this campaign in Saturday’s win over Scotland.
Harrison’s tactical kicking has been praised by Mitchell, who previously favoured Aitchison’s running game.
But Aitchison showed improvement in her kicking game on Saturday, summed up by a well-weighted nudge in-behind Scotland’s defence during the first half, to show the England coaches that she can also control a game like Harrison.
Seven out of nine conversions also indicated improvement from the kicking tee – an area the Bristol Bears fly-half struggled with last Six Nations.
“Holly has put that [goal-kicking issue] to bed and ticked the box that says ‘you can’t pick me because I can’t do that’, which is all you can do as a player,” former England fly-half Katy Daley-McLean told BBC’S Rugby Union Weekly.
France enjoy an unstructured game, well-suited for attacking rugby, which may mean Mitchell leans towards kicking control at 10.
