England may be vying for their fourth consecutive Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam this weekend but John Mitchell’s players will be hoping their own knockout performance can land them a different sort of trophy.
The Red Roses coaching team have been rewarding their own player of the match with a wrestling-style belt after each round of this year’s championship.
The red belt, which is adorned with a gold rose on the front and embellished with the words “Red Roses”, “Undisputed Champion” and “Six Nations 2025”, is believed to have been custom made for the squad and has been presented to the coaches’ chosen player in the dressing room after each game.
The Red Roses have swept teams aside so far in this Six Nations, but there is still a desire among Mitchell’s staff to single out the best from the rest in his hugely competitive squad.
“It’s something to celebrate the coaches’ player of the game,” said England centre Meg Jones. “It’s a bit of fun and a bit of recognition that we give to the person for their performance on the pitch, how they bring the rest of the group up. It’s like an internal player coaches’ award.”
Jones won the accolade after her performance in her side’s 67-12 win over Wales in round two, while Holly Aitchison was presented it by attack coach Lou Meadows following her fine display against Scotland last week.
It is understood the coaching team wanted to keep the belt award in-house, but photos of both players receiving it are on social media.
Asked if it was compulsory for players to wear the WWE-style belt, Jones, who was seen sporting it around her waist while hoisted into the air by a team-mate in the dressing room at the Principality Stadium, laughed before replying: “It depends on who you are.”
The Red Roses belt follows other quirky “coaches’ player” traditions in the men’s game.
Shaun Edwards would buy a bottle of Champagne to give his “defender of the week” when he started working as Wales defence coach in 2008 and it is a tradition he has taken to France. “It wouldn’t mean anything if I’d got it free from somebody else,” Edwards has said. “It’s just my way of saying ‘thank you’ to the players.”
The British and Irish Lions have also had their own “Bobby Cup”, a tradition coined by the side’s long time strength and conditioning coach, Paul ‘Bobby’ Stridgeon. It is usually given out when the Lions win two games in a row.
A former freestyle wrestler who competed for England at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Stridgeon dished out the prestigious award – a plastic beaker that he found in the Wasps’ changing room in 2002 – to the best trainer on each of the four tours he accompanied the side on.
Saracens men’s team also had a “Steak Player of the Match” award which was understood to be a common practice under their former assistant coach, Alex Sanderson, who ended his 17-year-old association with the club in 2021 when became director of rugby at Sale.