'All of our own doing': John Mitchell's warning for England

England head coach John Mitchell insists a 24-12 victory over New Zealand provided a timely lesson in the art of ruthlessness against top opposition.

The Red Roses came through a shaky start to score 24 unanswered points in front of a 41,523 crowd at Allianz Stadium, only to let New Zealand back into the game through two tries from Katelyn Vahaakolo.

The rivals are expected to clash again in next year’s World Cup final at the same venue and they will meet for the last time before the global event in WXV1 next month.

And Mitchell believes England’s failure to bury the Black Ferns when in the ascendency will prove valuable in 12 months’ time.

“When you’ve got the foot on the throat, finish it,” Mitchell said.

“Our discipline in the last 20 metres of the field let them off the hook. We had them exactly where we wanted them.

“We didn’t get momentum like we normally do. New Zealand did a good job there. For us there’s some key learnings in how we get momentum against New Zealand.,

“New Zealand will continue to play the way they do, it’s just in their DNA. We knew that was going to come.

“We gave them some possession and some soft tries. All of our own doing, which was good because for the last World Cup we didn’t get these kinds of lessons at this time of year. It’s really good for you.

“It was a satisfying performance. We went through a patchy start and then built some really good pressure and unstructured play.

“We’ve completed a series of two tough Test matches and some of the girls were playing for the first time in 10 weeks.

“There was always going to be a bit of rust, so you can’t be too hard on the girls. But the girls are hard markers and so they’ll ant to get better.”

New Zealand flanker Kennedy Tukuafu was pleased with the fight shown by her side when taking the game to England in the second-half.

“I’m really proud of a lot of things we did out there. A lot of things we could have tidied up, like holding on to the ball and showing more of what we’ve got,” Tukuafu said.

“The thing I love about this team is that they have got a lot of heart and they never roll over.

“Credit to the English girls, they’re a good side and they’re relentless. We’re fortunate to have another opportunity against them at WXV.”