England had New Zealand “exactly where we wanted”, but need to be more ruthless when in control to ensure they “bury” top teams, head coach John Mitchell has said.
The Red Roses comfortably defeated the Black Ferns 24-12 at the renamed Allianz Stadium in Twickenham, but failed to sustain their dominance after taking a three-try 17-0 half-time lead.
Mitchell’s side were outscored in the second period, managing only one early score through scrum-half Natasha Hunt, while the world champions scored twice to cut England’s lead in half.
“We had an opportunity to finish them but didn’t by letting them off through penalties and probably could have buried them,” Mitchell said.
“Our discipline in the last 20 metres of the field let New Zealand off the hook, we had them exactly where we wanted to.
“When you have the foot on the throat, finish it.”
After defeating France last weekend, Saturday’s victory completes two wins in two warm-up Tests for Mitchell’s side before they defend their WXV1 title in Canada later this month.
Victory also meant England extended their winning run to 17 matches since their last defeat, which came against the Black Ferns in the World Cup final in 2022.
The game marked the first played since Twickenham’s naming rights were sold, and with the home of English rugby set to host the Women’s World Cup final next year, both sides could well meet again in west London then.
“Today we didn’t get momentum like we normally do,” Mitchell added. “There are some key lessons in how to get momentum against New Zealand going forward.
“It is exactly what we wanted, to get lessons at this time of year. It is really good we have completed this series after two really tough Test matches.
“I am a hard marker and I am not asking the girls to bite off too much as they’ve come off the back of two pre-season games.
“About seven girls hadn’t played in about 10 weeks and played against the world champions.
“I am pretty happy where we are at.”
England scrum-half Hunt was left out of the World Cup squad in 2022 and wants to continue building towards the tournament next year.
“It’s not necessarily about putting down a marker but this group wants to get better each time we play,” Hunt told BBC Sport.
“There is a year to go before a World Cup in this country where rugby was born, so we really want to showcase what we are about.
“There is a massive drive amongst the squad to get better and put the shirt in a better place and that is a team you want to be part of.”
The Red Roses, who won the inaugural WXV1 title in Auckland after defeating New Zealand in 2023, will again play the world champions, as well as hosts Canada and the United States, in this year’s tournament.
It will be an opportunity for Mitchell to add to the Grand Slam he won in April during his first Six Nations in charge of the Red Roses.
“The whole idea was to prepare ourselves for WXV and we are looking forward to attacking it,” Mitchell added.
“But we are also looking forward to getting home and having a few days independent and authentic to ourselves.
“It is a tournament we want to attack.”
