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Enable Cookies<\/a> From contenders to world champions<\/p>\n Under Mitchell’s stewardship, England won all six matches at this summer’s World Cup on home soil, culminating in a 33-13 victory over Canada on September 27 in front of a record crowd of 81,885 at Twickenham, as their dreams became reality.<\/p>\n Curating the right culture, the right environment, was imperative to Mitchell transforming the Red Roses into the world beaters they became.<\/p>\n Mitchell credits a key piece of advice for helping him navigate unfamiliar terrain.<\/p>\n “Somebody gave me a good piece of advice once, which was where there’s common context, use your experience and be decisive with that, but where there’s uncommon context, just shut up, stay quiet, observe, learn,” he explained.<\/p>\n Image: “I was very fortunate that a lot of the staff have been in two [World Cup] cycles, so I was able to draw upon them.<\/p>\n “I didn’t premeditate anything, I just wanted the girls to find my presence authentic, safe, and I wanted them to express themselves, so when it was on, we’re on, when it’s off, like it’s important to be yourself and I think that was really the simplicity around our environment.<\/p>\n “It was just very normal and easy, that’s what I set out to do and ultimately gave them a very clear vision and then established some values that they brought to life which have guided us through the last three years.”<\/p>\n ‘Emotionally connected’<\/p>\n Mitchell’s transformation wasn’t just tactical – it was personal. Asked whether his time with the Red Roses had changed him, he didn’t hesitate.<\/p>\n Image: “They have changed me,” he said. “Would I have joined in as much with the fun off the field?<\/p>\n “As the leader, I sort of set the tone, allowing that freedom to be there so they can express themselves yet ultimately still maintaining and growing the standard.<\/p>\n “I just jumped in with them a lot more and had fun with them off the field, which is probably something like I would be calculated in the men’s game.<\/p>\n “I’ve obviously been quirky in some aspects of my presentations in the men’s game as well, but certainly just felt really comfortable because, like anyone, you have to build trust first, you can’t go anywhere without building trust.<\/p>\n “I was able to get that early enough and then you just become emotionally connected to them. I’ve got daughters as well, so I understand a little bit around that.<\/p>\n “But when you’ve got the magnitude of a team of 60 people and pretty close to 80 per cent of it is female, why not join them and have fun with them in the process?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Mitchell’s appointment as head coach of England Women in late 2023 came with a crystal-clear objective. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-229165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n Meg Jones and Mitchell pause for thought at England’s World Cup triumph at Twickenham<\/p>\n![\"JOHN](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/skysports-john-mitchell-red-roses_7052543.jpg\")
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\n Mitchell cites establishing an emotional connection as crucial to the Red Roses’ success<\/p>\n