Chasing history, England bid for Women’s Rugby World Cup glory in New Zealand

England manager Simon Middleton doesn’t mess around when he talks about what is expected from the Red Roses at the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup. “We’ve got to win it,” Middleton said ahead of the tournament in New Zealand which starts on Oct. 8. “This is the best-prepared squad with the best strength in depth we’ve ever had. We are as ready to go as we could be.”

That’s the expectation you have behind you with a 25-match winning streak. England are red-hot favourites, but nothing is guaranteed in sport. “That doesn’t mean we will win it,” Middleton clarified. “The one thing you can’t guarantee is that you’ll win it because it doesn’t work like that.”

Middleton’s Red Roses want to be on the right side of sporting destiny, as for every tale of a team heading into a World Cup — in any sport — as clear favourites and delivering, there is the other side of the coin where they fall short. “You look at Argentina beating New Zealand in New Zealand for the first time, you look at Andy Ruiz Jr. knocking Anthony Joshua out when he hasn’t got a chance,” Middleton added. “Everybody’s got a chance in sport, that’s the beauty of sport.” It’s the beauty, but it’s also the pitfall awaiting England over the next few weeks.

After having lost the 2017 World Cup final to New Zealand 41-32, the RFU and the various stakeholders knew the current format and plan was not clicking. The Sevens team and the 15s had too much overlap — lines were blurred, and players were burnt out as they juggled both formats. So, in September 2019, the RFU responded by signing 28 full-time pro player contracts — the announcement coming just two months after their last defeat, as they fell to New Zealand in San Diego.

Since that defeat to the Black Ferns, they have built this incredible dominance spanning 25 matches. The record-clinching victory came just three weeks ago as they beat rivals Wales 73-7 to become the first international rugby side to win that many games on the bounce. Their performance on that Sept. 14 night at Ashton Gate was so dominant Middleton did something unexpected: He took off Helena Rowland as a precaution with 10 minutes left, also giving the team a chance to play with 14 players. England never took their foot off the pedal.

“That’s something we kind of want to identify with,” prop Sarah Bern tells ESPN. “We’ve talked about being ruthless. We want to make sure there are no holes in the performance, no cracks. We want to be perceived as being a really difficult team to face. We really work on that in training — we train ridiculously hard, it’s not an easy ride.”

Bern, who has 46 caps, has been an integral part of the team which put together this 25-match winning run, but the starting motivation stems back from that defeat in 2017. She was there for the heartbreak of that World Cup final, and it…