England are looking to expand their attack to stay at the top of rugby’s world order, says Red Roses captain Meg Jones.
Their four-year, 41-match unbeaten run ended with a pair of defeats by Canada earlier this month, while New Zealand threatened to win at Allianz Stadium last month, only to be undone by Zoe Harrison’s last-gasp performance.
Long-time runaway leaders at the top of the world rankings, England could even drop to third with a combination of a 15-point defeat against the USA on Friday and a win over New Zealand over France on Saturday.
It never looked possible as the Red Roses ran to nine tries to win over USA in New Jersey, but Jones says the competition is fiercer early in the game.
“Teams get better, that’s the nature of it,” Jones said.
“It’s happened in the men’s game, it’s happened in the women’s game and we probably have to start being more unpredictable.
“We learned a lot on this tour and got a lot of feedback from where we want to continue to grow, get better and keep pushing.”