“We must be the No.1 team in the world now” – Gary Street

With England wrapping up their second consecutive Test-Series win over the Black Ferns last night, Gary Street was adamant his side was now the best team in the world.
Since the 2010 World Cup final lost to New Zealand, England women have claimed two consecutive Grand Slams and two undefeated Test-Series against the Black Ferns.
He told The Rugby Paper: “ Winning the last two Series against the World Champions has to make us the best team in the World.
“We’ve been building this squad for a long time now with Graham Smith and we have another 10 world-class players not in the squad because on injuries so that will give us headaches when they are all fit.
“It wasn’t easy to get there and it certainly won’t be easy to stay there but this is a great base to work from leading to 2014 where we will have to become World Champions to justify our status.”
Street made nine changes yesterday picking some younger and less experienced player but it didn’t impact on their performance.
The likes of Alexandra Matthews and Hannah Gallagher came into the back row to put on a fine display while Emily Scarratt and Joanne Watmore provide speed and power out wide.
While such a performance is a credit to his team, it doesn’t make his selection for the last Test at Twickenham on Saturday any easier though.
He said: “The players trust my selections and they trust the players in the shirt next to them. That’s what we thrive on and the last 15 minutes of the game proved just that. They didn’t give up to go and get that win.
“Last year people questioned me when I picked Alexandra, Hannah in the mid-week because no one knew who they were. Well tonight, they proved their class despite still being very young.
“Our back row is very strong. Heather Fisher, who is probably the best openside in the world, didn’t even get changed tonight. We’ll have some tough calls to make for Saturday.
“It’s great to have the Series in the bag already but playing at HQ in front of a huge crowd will give our girls a big boost.”
Other reactions from the game.
Player-of-the-game Emily Scarratt: “This is great feeling to beat the World Champions twice in four days. We did it last year but drew the last one so hopefully we’ll go one better at HQ on Saturday. Making all those changes and still perform is a great testament to our squad. The coaching staff are doing a great job to take us forward but they’ll have some tough decisions to take.
Try-scorer Hannah Gallagher: “Scoring my first international try for England was amazing. The team did so well tonight and we showed our strength in depth. Everyone in the squad is confident we can perform regardless of who’s on the pitch. The competition in the back row is very strong but hopefully I did enough tonight to get a call to play at Twickenham on Saturday.”
Black Ferns head coach Brian Evans: “England played well but it’s very disappointing. We didn’t seem to be able to get some good phases together to apply some pressure. We also gave away too many penalties. We haven’t played in a year which makes it harder to get the combinations going. England are getting better all the time while our players are not developing. But we’ll bounce back and we’ll be ready in 2014.”
NICK VERDIER