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England wing Abby Dow has revealed how a defensive mindset shift helped the Red Roses shut down world champions New Zealand at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
The hosts secured a 24-12 victory over the Black Ferns despite being below their best in attack and not scoring a point after the 43rd minute.
But their defence was in excellent working order, keeping their opponents to just two tries and shutting them down in an opening 15 minutes that New Zealand largely dominated.
Where their sixth consecutive Women’s Six Nations title was built largely around the development of their attack, John Mitchell and his staff have placed emphasis on their defence in preseason as England gear up for the WXV tournament in Canada.
And Dow, impressive on both sides of the ball in the victory, explained that taking her natural attacking strengths into defence is helping her game.
“We’ve been trying to push our defence this preseason,” Dow revealed. “Mitch [John Mitchell] has this thing: ‘Take your handbrake off’.
“I’m someone who would rather be safer. Sometimes, I’m not safe in attack. I’ll take an edge when I shouldn’t, and sometimes I get lucky. I thought, ‘why not try that in defence?’ Why not go for that hit, why not get off the line every time? When you know what you don’t want in attack, you can switch it and be that defender that annoys the attack.
“Every team we respect, but we want to crush what they are trying to do. We want to show that to every team we go up against. We want to be learn to be incredible when we are not on top – in the first 20 minutes, we nilled them, but we weren’t on top.”
Mitchell lamented afterwards his side’s failure to kill the contest off having seemingly been set to power away after Natasha Hunt’s sniping score just after the interval.
But the hosts never appeared likely to let the Black Ferns fully back into it as they dealt well with the array of outside back talent in the New Zealand ranks.
Dow said that she had taken inspiration from the aggressive blitz defence employed this year by England’s men to encourage her to “be brave”.
“You can always respect how New Zealand want to play,” the Trailfinders wing said. “They always go for it and it is a beautiful style to watch.
“But it is also a beautiful style that, if you get your timing right, you can ruin it. That’s what we’ve been trying to switch into. What happens when they don’t get the ball wide?
“[Former England wing Lydia Thompson] was absolutely brilliant at it. There is so much you can do off the ball and with technique, but also mindset.
“You can look at the [England] men. When they were out in New Zealand, Henry Slade was really going after the ball. When the ball is in the air, it’s a mindset: take the space. You’re not worrying about anything. What’s going to happen? The ball can’t step you. You almost ask those questions to yourself. Then you go get it, and be brave.”
Mitchell names his 30-player squad on Thursday ahead of games against the USA, Canada and New Zealand at WXV in Vancouver and Langley.
