In his first season as head coach of England women, Gary Street has managed to secure a Grand Slam – the side’s third on the trot. He spoke to www.rucked.com…
A Grand Slam in your first Six Nations, not bad?
Yeah not bad at all, what was pleasing was the way in which we played. Results are important but for me it was more important to be moving on as a team in the short and long term. It was all about the way we were trying to do things as a collective and play the game in a certain way.
What way is that?
We’re trying to create a game that will ultimately see us challenge New Zealand and become world champions. We want to play a game that’s not just expansive but also multi-functional and links the backs and forwards and makes them comfortable to play in different conditions – whether it’s the hard gounds of France and Italy or the mud of Scotland.
Did any sides give you any scares during the Six Nations?
Not really scares, but I think in the last game against Ireland we made too many errors and we’re trying to iron that out. There was pressure on because it was a triple Grand Slam game and I think some of the younger players will learn from that. But even then, we still controlled then game even though we weren’t at our best.
What was the best moment of the tournament?
It was when we played France away and they’d been camped on our line for about six minutes. The other coaches and me all thought we were going to concede and I was already preparing a half-time talk based around the fact they’d scored a try. But we didn’t concede, the girls threw their bodies and everything to stop them – seeing the faces of the French players coming off at half-time said a lot. They knew that if they couldn’t score then, they didn’t know how they were going to. It’s not just about having the talented players, it’s about having the will and desire, we want it more than any other nations.
And the worst moment of the tournament?
The two tries we conceded – one in the Scotland game and one against Ireland game. We were disappointed because we’ve got high expectations, we would have loved to come away without conceding a try in the championship.
Three Grand Slams in a row, does question the competitiveness of the tournament?
I think it’s easy to see it as a one-sided because we keep winning, but good players don’t win games on their talents alone – it’s also about the desire of our girls to turn up and win every game. We are favourites because we’ve won for the last two years but favourites don’t always win – you see that in sport week-in, week-out. We’re trying to raise the bar all the time and not just being content with beating other sides, we want to move forward and that’s why a huge amount of hard work goes on off the pitch which maybe makes it look easy. It would be easy to rest on our laurels but we don’t…
So the tournament has got better?
I think every side had improved. Italy – who were beaten 76-6 – just found us on a really good day. In the rest of their games they were quite competitive – they beat Scotland and competed against the other nations. Our wins have come about because of the clinical nature of the team that we’ve got, we’ve not been wasting opportunities. I think we’ve missed about five try-scoring opportunities throughout the tournament. That’s bad, especially considering last season we would miss that many per game. This year, we’ve had our chances and nailed them.
Has the Six Nations been a stepping towards your next tilt at the World Cup?
The Six Nations is a great tournament in its own right, but we are trying to build to the World Cup, every time we play we need to be as professional as we can. We’re using everything we can to build towards the ultimate goal of becoming world champions.
Does that mean you have to do the Grand Slam every year up until the World Cup?
I think we do, yes. We have the players to do it and it’s going to be hard work, it doesn’t come easy either. In the build up to the last World Cup – we only won the championship once in that four year period, France won three out of the four seasons. We need to change and one of our goals is to win every Grand Slam until the World Cup.
Any clashes against New Zealand on the horizon?
They’re coming over in the summer now, they’ve decided to play two Tests against Australia instead. We’re hoping to play them next year, either we’ll go to them or we’ll play them in Canada or wherever we can find them. It’s important to play them so that we can see where we are – we’re not scared of anybody.
Do they want to play you?
I’m not sure really, they’ve been very successful doing things the way they have in the past. They’ve never traveled a lot and just turned up at the World Cups with the finished article. They’ve won the last two World Cups and confidence breeds from that. But, no, they’re not trying too hard to play us.
So what’s next?
We’ve got the European Championships coming up in May in Holland and we’ve also got the Super League domestically and the sevens too. Simon Amor and Mike Friday are taking charge of the sevens’ programme this year. For the Euros we’ll be playing the Six Nations’ sides again plus Sweden and Russia. We’re going to be fielding a mixed side in terms of players and, while we obviously want to win it, it’s a great opportunity to give the wider squad a chance. Plus, we’ve got to juggle it with the sevens tournaments too.
You’re enjoying yourself as England coach then?
It’s an absolutely fantastic opportunity for me. One of my big ambitions when I started coaching in the women’s game was to lead a World Cup campaign and I always had my sights set on 2010. I’ve got real belief in myself and the team that we can go and do that.