Meg Jones has a number of super strengths in this England team. She is the energy-giver, she provides massive momentum by producing big moments and she knits things together on and off the pitch. Perhaps her biggest quality in the World Cup final against Canada, however, is that she wasn’t involved in the heartbreaking defeat by New Zealand three years ago. She does not bear the scars that many of her teammates do. If things are tight on the scoreboard in the final quarter, her mind is not going to wander off to what happened in the 2022 final. Meg’s thought process will not be clouded by something she wasn’t a part of. It’s something that we really shouldn’t underestimate because it is only human nature for those who were part of that side to be affected by things that have gone before them.
England will have been scenario planning this week, preparing for every eventuality, including the worst case. They will have practised going down to 14 players but that is a delicate balance to strike because that can be triggering for those involved in 2022, when Lydia Thompson was sent off.
