England women's coach John Mitchell becomes UK citizen

England women’s World Cup-winning coach, John Mitchell, has revealed he became a UK citizen in July after a six-year process. He said it would make representing the country on a sporting stage “very whole and meaningful”. Mitchell, who is from New Zealand and coached the All Blacks at the 2003 men’s World Cup, said he “belted out” the national anthem in his final citizenship test and that his time in English rugby was a motivation in his decision.

“I am very happy to be a British citizen,” he said. “More importantly, I am very happy to be an English citizen because rugby isn’t who I am, it’s what I do, but it does play a big part in my life.

“I think I have had more Tests with England than any other sporting team so that is quite special to me. To be able to represent your country and also be a citizen is meaningful and very whole.”

Mitchell, who joked he would be good in a pub quiz after swotting up on his history for the exam, was a forwards coach for England’s men’s team from 1997-2000 and defence coach under Eddie Jones between 2018 and 2021. He was named in his role with the Red Roses in 2023.

The 62-year-old will lead England in the revamped WXV tournament in September and October. The team will play three games at home against Australia, Canada and New Zealand and travel to Canada and the US.

For Mitchell, this gives England a chance to prepare for the next Rugby World Cup. “We can be very patient around how we go about things,” he said. “Ultimately, you are auditioning for Australia in 2029 because we are definitely going to be travelling some distance. In many ways we are trying to mirror that and understand how important our connections are and play exciting rugby. But it is going to be our connections that are first and foremost the most important thing, before playing exciting rugby.”

Aside from no trophy being up for grabs and more games, the WXV tournament will have a ball trial in force. Players usually compete with a size five ball, but teams will be using a 4.5 ball. The trial comes after World Rugby used the ball at a women’s sevens competition last November.

The England fly-half Zoe Harrison has criticised the decision and Mitchell said: “If we have younger players and we want to keep them in the game and we want to build confidence then I am all for that. It is too early for me to say it is going to help our offloading game or it’s going to help out with passing.

“I am sure there will be consequences as well, there might be more contestable kicking, which is something we probably want to keep away from our game because it is a point of difference between our game and the men’s game. Will passes drop away? Will kicks go as far? All of those things need to be answered.

“The sample at the moment is too small. We have had two weeks of team work with it and skill set. Once we get into the first three Test matches at home a lot of the curiosity will be answered.”

England’s first WXV game is against Australia on 12 September at Sale’s CorpAcq Stadium.