England centre Emily Scarratt says playing world champions New Zealand this autumn would be "massively important" for the team's development

However, Scarratt says the challenge of the southern hemisphere's top-ranked team would drive England's improvement.

"It would be awesome. You have to play the best regularly to see where you're at," Scarratt told BBC Sport.

"They play a different game to France, exposing yourself to that and their quality of player and how they play is massively important. It is a challenge we all relish."

Rugby Football Union chief Bill Sweeney said earlier this month that the union is "working hard" on bringing in high-quality opposition this autumn to help the Red Roses prepare for next year's Rugby World Cup.

England lost the Rugby World Cup final to New Zealand in 2017, and have played the Black Ferns only once since, a 28-13 defeat in San Diego in 2019.

England are currently number one in the world with New Zealand close behind. Defeat by France on Friday would cause England to slip behind New Zealand in the rankings.

Scarratt, the 2019 World Rugby Women's Player of the Year, could find herself opposite Portia Woodman, the 2017 winner, if the teams do meet.

"It would be cool. That's what you want. She is one of the best players in the world across both codes, she probably has a little more pace than I have," laughed the 31-year-old.

"You want those challenges whether it is a one-on-one challenge in terms of your opposite number or the team you are playing."

'You can see the hurt'

England's hard-fought 10-6 victory in last weekend's Six Nations final was their eighth successive win over France.

Scarratt believes that home advantage and a determination to end that streak makes Friday's rematch a difficult prospect.

"They say a wounded animal is a dangerous thing," she added.

"You can see the hurt, we understand that because when you are on the other side of it you know how much it means to play for your country.

"It is a dangerous one in terms of their mentality. They have nothing to lose in the current run of wins and losses, we need to not get too emotional but stick to the process and plan that we set out."

Scarratt says England want to show they can win in different ways after grinding France down in a forward-dominated battle at the Twickenham Stoop.

"In terms of our performance we want to play the game a bit differently and showcase the talent throughout the squad, not just some of our big forwards," she added.

"We have been working really hard on keeping the tempo high, the ball in play and work hard, and the way the game was played at the weekend we weren't able to do that.

"Sometimes you don't have control over that, but a lot of the time you can have control of that in many ways. We want to move the point of contact a little more, we were a bit one-dimensional at the weekend - we have got some unbelievable athletes and we want to be able showcase that."