Yorkshire's Red Roses contingent kept on their toes by John Mitchell's selection strategy

For John Mitchell, the head coach, named his teams for the opener against Italy at the LNER Stadium and the second game against Wales in Cardiff this coming Saturday, before the tournament had begun.

With the long view of the summer’s World Cup in mind, Mitchell wants to use this attempt at a fourth straight Six Nations grand slam to utilise as many players as possible.

“We're trying to give everyone purpose in '25,” he said following England’s 38-5 win against Italy in York. “We want to create competition for places. There's no guarantees - go to August, September, everyone has to be ready. Giving people the opportunity allows us to build a connection and cohesion that is going to hold us in good stead.

"Our girls know exactly who's playing next week. We've known all our roles for the first two weeks of the competition.”

Asked why he has done that, the New Zealander said: “It reduces anxiety, creates clarity, and we'll just just try and get better individually and collectively.

"I like to plan. It would be stupid not to plan with what's ahead in the year. A lot of thought's gone into this, and we'll be a better group for making sure everyone has purpose. We built pressure. We’ve got some great examples of having to take some punches and deal with it.

"We got a squad that's started, and we've got another group that's ready to go again next week. It's all good. The Red Roses don't sit still. We’ll do the same in the fallow week for the next two games.”

England will need that mantra of not sitting still on the pitch in the lengthy TMO breaks that cut the momentum of Sunday’s game.

Three tries were chalked off or amended due to lengthy stoppages while the referee went to the big screen at the other end of the LNER Stadium to rewatch the footage.

"We need to be mindful of how we get our energy back in those stoppages,” said Mitchell. "We're big on adapting, it's one of our big things.”