England registered another emphatic victory in the World Cup group stage by crushing Samoa 92-3, but head coach John Mitchell still pinpointed areas for improvement.
The Red Roses recorded their biggest margin of victory and the highest number of points in the tournament’s history by amassing 14 tries against amateur opponents ranked 15 in the world.
But Mitchell identified a 15-minute period around half-time when England’s performance dipped.
“The start was energetic and very clinical. As the game wore on and the score was building it was always going to be a challenge to stay in process and build pressure,” he said.
“There is always something to fix in this game. If you are going to mark it hard you would ask why we didn’t build pressure during that period and our basics let us down. But we wouldn’t be human if we didn’t have something to fix.”
Wing Jess Breach showed her finishing prowess by running in a blistering hat-trick, while the excellent Megan Jones crossed twice in the Pool A showdown at Franklin’s Gardens.
And fly-half Helena Rowland marked her return from an ankle injury to compile an individual haul of 27 points, setting a new record for an England player at a World Cup.
“Jess was very good at her one-on-one duels. She can find half a metre and she’ll burn you,” Mitchell said.
“She’s confident and she’s done a lot of work to put herself in that position. When she’s like that, she’s outstanding.
“Helena was outstanding. She has got a great skill set. She probed the game well. The girls fed off her direction and she directed the attack really well to allow us to go forward.
“She can hunt weakness through her pace. It was an outstanding example of a triple threat.”
Samoa head coach Ramsey Tomokino revealed his players went off script when Harmony Vatau slotted the 45th-minute penalty that registered their first points of the World Cup.
Vatau’s successful kick ignited wild celebrations from the Islanders, who were crushed 73-0 by Australia in the opening round.
“We weren’t happy with getting a zero last weekend. I wasn’t expecting them to take the shot at goal but they did,” Tomokino said.
“As a coach you’ve just got to sit there and smile at their jubilation. We hope the women’s game will grow after this World Cup and we’ll get more opportunities.
“There was worries that the score would get to triple figures and wouldn’t that be good for the game, but we’re here and the goal is to get better.”
