Women’s Rugby World Cup: England v United States
Venue: Stadium of Light, Sunderland Date: Friday 22 August Kick-off: 19:30 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC One, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport website and app.
England expects. Actually, it’s more than that. England presumes.
And with some justification.
England have won 57 of their past 58 games – a record that stretches around the world and back more than six years.
On the home front, they have won the past seven Six Nations titles.
World Rugby invented a new global event, WXV, to increase top-end competition. And England have won every edition of that as well.
The Red Roses have pretty much broken the world rankings system. In the 22 years since rankings were introduced, no team has come close to accumulating the 97.76 they currently hold.
Often they play matches knowing they cannot improve their total, no matter the margin of victory. Only resounding wins over their nearest rivals now return a few more decimals.
Their form has been so relentless, the dominance so singular, their winning streak so long, that many home fans are tuning in for the Rugby World Cup expecting a month-long coronation of their Test queens, culminating with victory in the final on 27 September.
Coach John Mitchell knows different.
He inherited a side that went into the last Rugby World Cup final with a record of 30 straight wins and similarly heavy expectations.
However, wing Lydia Thompson’s first-half red card and the New Zealand Black Ferns’ magic under the Eden Park lights conspired to spirit the trophy away.
The last time Mitchell himself led a Rugby World Cup campaign, his highly fancied All Blacks side lost in the 2003 men’s semi-finals, with Australia’s George Gregan crowing “four more years” as the game slipped away.
The Red Roses’ own wait is now more than a decade. They have appeared in the past six World Cup finals, but their only success during that time was in 2014