Simon Middleton: Pressure on England women to win World Cup is 'huge'
Middleton knew that fully-fledged professionalism would be the only way to close the gap on New Zealand and played a key role in pushing for historic full-time contracts, which the Rugby Football Union unveiled for 28 women’s players at the start of 2019. Three years’ worth of game-changing investment has propelled the Red Roses to the top of the world rankings and yielded a 30-match winning streak - the longest ever winning run by a rugby nation.
New Zealand were the last team to win against England when they beat the Red Roses in San Diego in July 2019, but since then Middleton’s side have handed the Black Ferns heavy back-to-back defeats during their European tour last summer. It is why Wayne Smith, the Black Ferns head coach, who was all too happy to ramp up the pressure even more on England after labelling his side as underdogs for the tournament decider. Middleton, however, conceded before the World Cup that anything less than lifting the trophy would be a failure.
“Look, it’s difficult. Everybody wants it badly,” said Middleton. “It’s how you handle that. There has obviously been a build-up of pressure on the team because of everything we’ve done and everything that’s written. It becomes self-perpetuating, there’s no doubt about that. I think that’s a growth point for the team. The expectation on them is so huge and they know it. We always try to be the team we want to be but it’s not always possible with the pressure on them. I think the Canada game might take a little bit off us to be honest.”
Middleton, who took charge of the Red Roses in 2015, is contracted with the RFU until June 2023 but is yet to confirm whether he will stay on in the role. Leading the side to the next women’s 2025 World Cup in England - when the RFU hopes to sell-out Twickenham for the final - would certainly be a huge draw.
“To be honest, the RFU are so behind the women’s game it’ll be an unbelievable tournament anyway,” he said. “They will throw everything into it because that’s their philosophy and how much they value the women’s game. It won’t take winning here to do that but what winning here would do is just accelerate it [women’s rugby] like the women winning the Euros has accelerated football.”
