Simon Middleton, who leaves role as Red Roses head coach after 2023 Six Nations concludes in April said: "We need more women in coaching"; adds "nothing makes up for losing World Cup final' re England's loss to NZ; Also talks Sarah Hunter, Marlie Packer as co-captains, and the future
Wednesday 8 March 2023 10:29, UK
Outgoing Red Roses head coach Simon Middleton has told Sky Sports: "We need more women in coaching", while adding "nothing makes up for losing a Rugby World Cup final."
Speaking exclusively to Sky Sports at Twickenham after last month's confirmation the 57-year-old would depart his position after the 2023 Women's Six Nations, Middleton confirmed a key target area is to increase the amount of women coaching in rugby.
"One of the next real work areas we've got to push through is to get more females into coaching, and coaching at a higher level," Middleton said.
"We've got some great coaches in the system already, but I've said on numerous occasions that I think there's going to be a whole crop of new coaches coming through when this band of professional players finish.
"There will be some fantastic coaching potential that will be realised after the next World Cup [2025], and we've made provision in our coaching set-up for a couple of players who won't feature in the Six Nations: Abbie Ward (pregnant) and Emily Scarratt (neck and ankle injuries), we're going to have them in working with us, because they're great coaches anyway, and great tacticians.
"They've expressed an opinion to support, and we welcome that with open arms, and if that gives them support on their journey, fantastic, it's a win-win all round.
"It will be great to have them involved and I'm looking forward to working with them."
Speaking a little over three months after England's World Cup final defeat to the Black Ferns in New Zealand - a tournament the Red Roses were enormous favourites to win, having comfortably beaten all their rivals in the lead-up - Middleton admits nothing makes up for that sort of disappointment.
But the squad are focussed on marking a mark in the Six Nations, which starts on March 25.
"Ultimately, nothing can take away the disappointment of losing in a World Cup final. But professional sport and sport in general is about moving on," Middleton added.
"We want to play as well as we can and perform as well as we can. You enjoy every victory, because ultimately that's what international rugby is about.
"You have victories, you have defeats, and the real test of character is how you come back from your defeats.
"We've moved on from that [World Cup final loss] now, we've parked it. We know there's a new World Cup cycle started, and we want to get through things and be successful in the Six Nations. It's a brilliant competition. I absolutely love it.
"After any World Cup, there is a bit of a generation process. We have a couple of weeks to prepare for Scotland [first game], a new squad, and we're very much focussed on that.
"I don't think you can say anything is a matter of time [in response to: is a Red Roses World Cup triumph just a matter of time?] because you can be as prepared as you possibly believe you can be, as we believe we were in New Zealand, and if things don't work out on the day, it doesn't work out.
"Yeah I mean there's a few things we would have done differently I suppose. But there are a lot of things we did that we wouldn't have changed.
"Because people always look and say: 'What would you have done differently?'. But if we'd have done that, something else might have happened, and that's the nature of what you do.
"There's a couple of things we reflected on as part of our review, and hopefully we'll see some of those things in the Six Nations.
"I think we're always going to be there or thereabouts if we continue on the trajectory we are on, and continue to follow the development pathway we have for the Red Roses, and the unbelievable backing we get from the RFU, we should always expect to be in the shakeup.
"There is nothing you are entitled to in terms of winning. It's all about what happens on the day, how prepared you are and all you can do is be at your best."
Ahead of the 2023 Six Nations, Middleton and England named back-rows Sarah Hunter and Marlie Packer as co-captains for the first time.
"It's not something we've done before," Middleton confirmed. "We've always gone captain and vice-captain, but what we know is that Sarah [Hunter, 37] has openly stated she's not going to be at the next World Cup.
"Marlie [Packer] is very much intending to be at the next World Cup, and has been part of our leadership group for the past couple of seasons. And when you look at some of the leadership we're not going to have, Marlie was an obvious choice from that group to support Sarah.
"We're really conscious of where Sarah's position is as a player, and at this point in time she's not going to play every game in the Six Nations, she's not going to play every minute of each game, so at some point you're going to need another captain on the field, and Marlie fits that fantastically well.
"She's captained Saracens, who are the top side in the country. She knows how to run a side in big games. It was a natural choice and a great choice, particularly with a young group, you need someone who is going to set the standard. We're really happy."
Middleton leaves his role as England head coach having been in the position since 2015, guiding the side to five Six Nations triumphs and two World Cup final defeats.
Asked what his plans are for after leaving the England post, Middleton admitted he has nothing in the works at this stage.
"I haven't got any plans. I've always been a person who just rolls from one thing to another, I don't plan too far forward.
"I'm generally a reactive person to opportunities that come, and I'm just really focussed on the Six Nations and getting the squad into camp next week.
"So I'll deal with next week first, and then the week after, and we'll keep going until the end and then I'll have a think about what's going to happen next."
