Red Roses dominance is bad omen for women’s game (but they’re great to watch)

Having beaten Italy 48-0 with 14 players in their Women’s Six Nations opener, it is fair to say England’s Red Roses continue to be one of rugby’s most dominant teams ever.

Yes, that makes successive World Cup failures harder to stomach but the England national team are otherwise seemingly unstoppable.

However, their impressive win in Parma is hardly good for the sport. Such a thrashing represents some of the worst of women’s rugby right now, where the gap between England and France and the rest of the bunch in Europe is widening.

Red Roses dominance

The other four nations – Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Italy – may be edging towards being more competitive with each other but the distance between them and the top two sides is gaping.

Such dominance in England and France is testament to their ability to back the women’s game, invest in it and see through their initial plans but it is also a worrying reminder of just where the game is outside of a select few exceptions.

It’s why the sport should always err on the side of caution when it comes to replicating the men’s game.

Spain shouldn’t have been booted out of the Six Nations when they were to make room for Italy. The apparent need to copy the men’s competition feels short-sighted – and is the game ready for a Lions Tour that travels to New Zealand?

It is difficult to understand why there seems to be an obsession with copying the men’s game, which has proven itself to be unfit to serve the needs of rugby fans, players and coaches alike.

The men’s game is in poor health, constantly needing to be bailed out by various parties. The women’s game should actively look to avoid becoming this.

And an uncompetitive international scene should only convince those in charge to steer their own course towards success.

I love the women’s game, and watching England is so easy at the moment, but we must not forget that the Red Roses are the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself.

Danny Boy

Another one of England’s old guard retired from the international game this week.

Danny Care has been a safe pair of hands for England and is well worth his 101 caps – a numerical feat made even more impressive when you think he was exiled by Eddie Jones for three years.

And he is in the perfect position as a player in his 30s: he doesn’t owe Quins the ‘one club man’ send-off because he was at Leeds – rather successfully – beforehand and he has offers on the table from across the English Channel.

Bayonne and Perpignan are rumoured to be interested in the scrum-half, and having achieved everything he could have in England I wouldn’t bemoan him filling his pockets before he retires completely. 

He’s one of those stalwart players who really should have played for the British and Irish Lions. Enjoy international retirement, Danny!

Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance, experts in leadership development behavioural change and executive coaching support. Follow Ollie on Twitter and on LinkedIn @OlliePhillips11