Mitchell lauds Red Roses depth as he unveils Women's Six Nations squad

Red Roses coach John Mitchell insisted the five-time defending Women’s Six Nations champions have “huge” potential for growth as he claimed he has not worked with such a deep pool of talent since he coached the All Blacks more than two decades ago.

Mitchell named a 35-player Guinness Women’s Six Nations squad on Monday that included three uncapped players and returns for experienced stars Emily Scarratt, Zoe Harison and Abbie Ward.

The former England men’s assistant – who coached his native New Zealand between 2001-03 – joked that he could have “named three sides, that’s how much depth we have” as he spoke to reporters at Twickenham.

When pressed on whether he had ever worked with such a talented group of players, the much-travelled coach added: “Probably the All Blacks.

“That’s the last time that I’ve had this opportunity and rugby’s changed a lot since [he coached] the All Blacks, in the men’s game, so they probably don’t have the same depth that I was privy to back then.

“So, I’m very grateful to be in a position to have the depth that we have.”

England have not tasted defeat in the Championship since 2018 and head into this year’s tournament on the back of victory in the inaugural WXV 1 tournament last November.

Mitchell, who revealed plans to play France as well as the Black Ferns ahead of WXV 2024, said that triumph in New Zealand served notice of the Red Roses’ desire to improve and he believes there is still plenty to come from the squad.

“The potential of these girls is absolutely huge. There is so much more in them and their willingness to learn as well, their willingness to want to learn and get better, is huge.

“So, as you can see, we can drive that through the competition we’ve got as well amongst the players.

“We’ve got 30 professional contracts, we’ve got five transitional contracts, and then we’ve got 90 English girls playing in the PWR [Premiership Women’s Rugby] each weekend. But not all of them are professional.

“And a lot of the girls, it’s probably only been two years fully professional, and we’ve also got non-contract players who’ve probably arrived at this stage where they’ve been surviving on maybe two days of professionalism.

“So, it just gives you some indication of how much further we can go capacity-wise and in terms of developing skill set. I think mental performance as well, you know, because as the demands of the game become greater, I think the mental performance side of things is going to be critical in terms of their growth as well.”

Of the 35 names included in Mitchell’s first Women’s Six Nations squad, it was one of the uncapped players that sprang off the page: Exeter Chiefs flanker Maddie Feaunati.

The daughter of former Samoa and Bath number eight Issac – who also appeared as Jonah Lomu in the film ‘Invictus’ – Feaunati was born and raised in Leeds but had returned to New Zealand earlier this year to train with Super Rugby Aupiki squad Hurricanes Poua.

Indeed, according to Mitchell she turned down a Black Ferns contract to take up the offer of an England call-up and despite making only seven appearances for Exeter in PWR it seems that England legend and assistant coach Sarah Hunter is a fan.

“Sarah and I were sitting watching one game and she said, ‘Have you seen Maddie?’ And at that point, I hadn’t because my focus was more on the outside backs,” Mitchell said.

“Sarah had been watching her for a while and then I went and watched her and I just saw this really naturally gifted, carrying footballer, who’s athletic, who’s young, who can also be a very good lineout jumper.

“And if you look at the back row mix, there’s some very strong carriers in the back-row mix.

“The two sixes that we’ve selected obviously also can play eight as well. So, we’ve invested in what we think is a very, very good carrying athlete and she’s a good character as well, Exeter speak very highly of her.

“So, yeah, we’re very fortunate that she’s also very committed to play for England. Her parents lived in England, they were very good to her parents, and she’s always seen the Red Roses as [something] that she’s aspired to. So, we’re very lucky to have that depth.”

Mitchell added: “We’ve been in contact with her family, and Exeter, around the reasons why she’s gone back [to New Zealand] and all those sorts of things.

“So, yeah, we’ve been around all that and then we just wanted to make sure that we had the right commitment. And so, once we had the right commitment, it was an easy process.”