The England head coach, John Mitchell, admitted his team’s squad depth is creating a selection headache after his England side demolished Scotland in the Six Nations.
The Red Roses made nine changes from their win in Ireland last Saturday, with one of those the wing Claudia MacDonald. She had a player of the match performance and scored two tries.
When asked if MacDonald had given him a selection conundrum on the wing, Mitchell said: “Most players have given me a headache, there is plenty of competition in the side. There’s Jess [Breach], Claudia, Abby [Dow], Mia [Venner] – who hasn’t played since Italy – so it is a good headache to have.
“Claudia is an international rugby player of the highest quality. She has created competition, she has a different skillset to the other wingers as well which is something that will become very useful for us.”
The win against Scotland has set up a grand slam decider against France next Saturday. Mitchell was pressed on how he will make selection decisions as the team aims for their seventh successive Six Nations title. He said: “It’s just my job, it is what I am employed to do. We are a high performing team, we look to get better. We are not No 1 in the world for nothing. These girls are unbelievable, the way they push each other in training, the way they support each other. [Selection] is a high place of care. I might be demonstrating that I have been a professional for a long time, making hard decisions is part of my job. There is still a large bit of high care when it comes to making selections but we don’t just select people on just their talent.
“Next week is a different tactical game altogether. Tactically the skillsets that are needed in that performance will definitely be considered.”
Scotland, meanwhile, face Ireland in their final game of the tournament and will be bidding to record their second victory of the championship after beating Wales in round one. Despite the heavy loss to England, the fly-half Helen Nelson believes it is a step forward for Scotland.
She said: “We spoke a lot about just getting some pride back in our performance, and I think there were definitely parts of the second half that we can be really proud of and we showed the Scotland way. I think it gives us a really good platform and some momentum to take into next week against Ireland.”
