Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

England name team for Ireland in Cork with key players back from injury

Gabby Cantorna of United States challenges Natasha Hunt of England as they break free to score their side's first try during the Women's International rugby match between England Red Roses and United States at Sandy Park on September 03, 2022 in Exeter, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

England head coach Simon Middleton has named his 23-player Red Roses squad to take on Ireland at Musgrave Park, Cork, in Round 4 of the TikTok Women’s Six Nations.

ADVERTISEMENT

Natasha Hunt makes her first appearance of the tournament at scrum half with Morwenna Talling and Helena Rowland also returning from injury and set to feature for the first time in this year’s Championship off the bench.

Marlie Packer captains the side at open-side flanker while Sadia Kabeya is blind-side flanker and Alex Matthews at number eight.

In-form fly-half Holly Aitchison continues her 10-12 partnership with Tatyana Heard, who earned player of the match against Wales, with Lagi Tuima continuing at outside centre.

Gloucester-Hartpury duo Zoe Aldcroft and Sarah Beckett are the second row combination.

Connie Powell makes her maiden 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations appearance at hooker with Hannah Botterman and Maud Muir her front row counterparts. Powell replaces May Campbell, who made her international debut last week, dropping out of the match day squad entirely.

Ellie Kildunne is at full-back with Abby Dow and Claudia MacDonald forming a frightening back three.

ADVERTISEMENT

England team to play Ireland

15. Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 32 caps)
14. Abby Dow (Harlequins, 33 caps)
13. Lagi Tuima (Harlequins, 15 caps)
12. Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury, 12 caps)
11. Claudia MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs, 26 caps)
10. Holly Aitchison (Saracens, 18 caps)
9. Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 60 caps)

1. Hannah Botterman (Saracens, 35 caps)
2. Connie Powell (Gloucester-Hartpury, 7 caps)
3. Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 18 caps)
4. Zoe Aldcroft (VC; Gloucester Hartpury, 41 caps)
5. Sarah Beckett (Gloucester-Hartpury, 28 caps)
6. Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 11 caps)
7. Marlie Packer (C; Saracens, 92 caps)
8. Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, 57 caps)

Finishers
16. Lark Davies (Bristol Bears, 47 caps)
17. Mackenzie Carson (Saracens, 3 caps)
18. Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears, 55 caps)
19. Delaney Burns (Bristol Bears, 1 cap)
20. Morwenna Talling (Loughborough Lightning, 5 caps)
21. Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 12 caps)
22. Amber Reed (Bristol Bears, 63 caps)
23. Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 22 caps)

ADVERTISEMENT
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

f
fl 44 minutes ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

I ultimately don’t care who the best club team in the world is, so yeah, lets agree to disagree on that.


I would appreciate clarity on a couple of things though:

Where did I contradict myself?

Saying “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” is entirely compatible with ranking a team as the best - over an extended period - when they have won more games and made more finals than other comparable teams. It would be contradictory for me to say “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.” and then completely ignore Leinster record of winning games and making finals.


“You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself.”

What you said (that I think trophies matter) is true, in that I said “Trophies matter. They matter a lot. But so does winning games. So does making finals.”. Do you understand that Leinster won more games and made more finals than any other (URC-based) team did under the period under consideration?


“Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.”

I really don’t understand why you would think that this is irrelevant. You seem to be saying that winning trophies is the only thing that matters when assessing who is the best, but doesn’t matter at all when assessing who is 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.


“What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.”

Well then we’ve just been talking at cross purposes. In that my position (that Leinster were the best team overall in 2022-2024) was pretty clear, and you just decided to respond to a different point (whether Leinster were the best team individually in particular years) essentially making the entire discussion completely pointless. I guess if you think that trophies are the only thing that matters then it makes sense to see the season as an individual event that culminates in a trophy (or not), whereas because I believe that trophies matter a lot, but that so does winning matches and making finals, it makes it easier for me to consider quality over an extended period.

24 Go to comments
M
MT 1 hour ago
Ex-Wallaby laughs off claims Bath are amongst the best in the world

As I said in one of my first replies to you - we can agree to disagree. If you want to leave it no problem. I completely disagree with your ranking of Leinster as the best team in the world. Now you have said you will change it if Bordeaux win the Top 14. Well as Leinster themselves prioritise the CC over the URC and Bordeaux won the CC, how are they not ranked higher by you? Are Leinster one of the best teams, yeah - never said they weren’t. But not the very best team, as the very best team have trophies to show for their seasons. They matter when you discuss the very best.


You can get frustrated and say I am not reading what you write, but when you quote me, then your first line is to say thats true (what I wrote), but by the end of the paragraph have stated something different, thats where you contradict yourself. Just so we are clear, you said you would too on my statement that I would rather be a fan of a team that won a trophy over the three seasons, but end the paragraph saying you would rather be a fan of the team that won the most matches but didn’t win a trophy. Both cant be true. Thats one example of where you contradict yourself.


Pointless comparison on Blackburn and Tottenham to this discussion as no-one includes them on a list of the best club. I would say that Blackburns title season was better than anything Tottenham have done in the Premier League. My reference to the league was that the team who finished second over two seasons are not better than the two other teams who did win the league each time. One of the best - of course, but not the best, which is relevant to my point here about Leinster, not comparing teams who won 30 years ago against a team that never won.


What I referred to in my Leinster wouldn’t say the were the best is your post earlier where you said Leinster were the best overall. You said that in two separate posts. Seasons dont work like that, they are individual. Unless the same team keeps winning then you can say they were the best over a period of time and group them, but thats not the case here.

24 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING The top 5 signings of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership season The Top 5 signings of the 2024/25 Gallagher Premiership season
Search