The Red Roses arrived in New Jersey for their finals WXV Global Series The 2026 game in an awkward position. It’s been a decade since the team last lost two matches in a row. But against Canada, in the Toronto and Ottawa games, that’s exactly what happened.
The defeat in Toronto at BMO Field ended England’s 41-match unbeaten streak, which ran until 2022. A week later, Canada were in their stride, played in front of another strong home crowd and got the job done again. By the end of one last Test match in 2026 – their 11th of the calendar year – Sarah Bern sat across RugbyPass at a table overlooking the Manhattan skyline.
The prop will win his 90th Test against USA The Eagles women at Sports Illustrated Stadium on Friday night. Now, a decade into her international career, she has met defeat in a match England t-shirt before. In fact, she was in the touring squad when the Red Roses lost their second game in a row last time out Women’s Rugby Super Series competition in 2016.
Bern described the back-to-back losses as the “elephant in the room” and acknowledged that those losses served as the starting gun for the emergence of New England.
“Canada has said outright that they have a game plan to beat us,” the 29-year-old said. “If you look at their year, they didn’t necessarily win every game they played, but their game plan was to beat England and they achieved that goal.
“We have to look at ourselves. We haven’t changed anything. We’ve played the same team for the last four years since Mitch came in. We haven’t changed it too much. If you play a team consistently over that period of time, you’ll understand where the holes are and how to beat them.”
“Like, kudos to them for doing that, but it doesn’t take anything away from us. We’ve been dominant all year, through the World Cup, 41 games. I kind of look at it like going to the gym and working yourself to failure, right? Then you rest because that’s what grows.
“If you look at it in sport, if you look at some of the comments, ‘England are losing, this is not good’, that’s actually what will achieve our growth. There’s a saying, if you’re one failure away from your success, how many times would you try to fail?”
It will be six months before England play again. When is Guinness Women’s 2027 Six Nations it’s coming, female Rugby World Cup The 2025 champions will have games at the Stadium of Light, the Principality Stadium, the Aviva Stadium and the Allianz Stadium to look forward to, along with a stop at Franklin’s Gardens to host Italy.
Until then, hopefully England will thrive with their new style of play. A style of play they hope will lead them to the back-to-back Women’s Rugby World Cup titles. That idea of evolution is what Bern likes to sound like: “I don’t really believe in ceilings, I don’t believe in barriers.”
“Now it’s time to go, take a look at it and I’m really excited about the opportunity to introduce new things, changes and try to create a slightly different attacking game,” Bern added.
“That’s what we all want to do and it started this weekend. Maybe we haven’t changed too much yet, but it’s definitely a reset, let’s go for it.”
“It’s not that surprising (the reaction to England’s defeat), it’s the narrative that’s been pushed out there – that England should be beaten. Every team we play has their best game against us. It’s nothing unusual for us.
“What I would say is, hang on. Because, think about what we’ve achieved by doing a similar thing in the last four years. I think if it changes and evolves and develops, then think about what we could achieve in the future. This is not bad for us.
“I’m not going to, oh yeah, we’re brilliant. Everybody’s frustrated. I was frustrated. But I see it as a space that we can really try to attack in a different way now. For me, that’s how I’ve been attacking my whole career and I’m really excited about it.”
England is not alone in discovering how rapidly the international landscape is changing. The WXV Global Series provided a reminder of the increasingly competitive nature of the women’s game, with France also fights against New Zealand and Scotland they failed to find an answer to Australia.
Margins are shrinking and England will need to evolve if they are to stay ahead of the chasing pack. Next year will even see the first British & Irish Lions Women tour, which will take place during September 2027.
It will be the first time that players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have gathered. Another chance to make some history.
“I think Jo (Yapp, Lions head coach) is great,” Bern laughed.
But even with new debuts around the corner, there are always points of nostalgia. None more so than the return of Matt Ferguson to the camp as scrum and contact skills coach. The last member of the coaching staff eight years ago, it was Ferguson who turned Bern from the back row into a prop for all the action.
Although Ferguson has only been back with the team for a short time, there is plenty of familiarity – along with an eerie sense of deja vu.
“Matt Ferguson is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” Bern said. “The detail that goes into it and the honesty with which it’s delivered, I think is brilliant and something that we definitely needed. It’s honesty, but done in a positive way.
“For me, if you do that in the sportsmen’s room, they’re going to chase the team. Everyone wants to be better. Nobody’s sat in the England team, I don’t want to be good at it.”
On Friday night, Bern will play his 90th international for England. Her debut against France a decade ago in Salt Lake City, Utah, somehow seems like a distant memory. The years that followed were fraught with testing success. Numerous women’s Six Nations and Grand Slam titles, and three appearances at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. The latest of which ends with a victory medal.
“It just kind of snuck up on me,” Bern said of the landmark appearance. “I didn’t really realize it until I was 86 or so in the Six Nations. I was like, that’s pretty high. To get there, it’s a phenomenal achievement, and I’m not as young as the kids coming through now, but I’ve got a lot of years left in me. I’m very honoured. It’s amazing to get that opportunity.
“I’m very touched to be able to share my experiences on the pitch with England with so many amazing players – Danielle Waterman at 17, 18, Emily Scarratt. I could name every single person. Now I’m playing with youngsters like Maddie Feaunati. She’s been outstanding. Then friends I’ve known for years, Zom Harson’, Zom Strah. if I had it.”
England is playing against a USA team that is on a five-game winning streak. Their first of its kind since 2006. Jack Hanratty’s side featured a number of outstanding performers. Freda Tafuna has scored seven tries in four WXV Global Series matches so far. Bella Vogel, the team’s teenage midfielder, has been nominated for World Rugby Player of the Year in Season 15. We are talking about the Eagles team in an extremely good place after victories against Ireland, Wales and Italy.
The match is England’s first opportunity to set the record straight on several counts. Even though their undefeated streak was ended, they are still the world champions and the number one ranked team in the world. Even if they can drop to third in the World Rugby rankings with a loss of 15 points or more and a second place result.
“We are not wounded,” Bern said. “We’re down, we’re not out. We don’t see it as; this is terrible. We see it as, well, we better step it up now. I think it’s a very dangerous side to fight against, people who want to win. They want to show that this is the first day of our new chapter. Why wait for the Six Nations? Let’s start now.
“Let’s go out and show what we’ve been doing. Personally, I’m really excited to get another chance to pull on the England shirt and compete against a team that’s foaming at the mouth to beat England. That’s what we live for.”
