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Trio return as England name three uncapped players in Women's Six Nations squad
John Mitchell has named three uncapped players in his first Women’s Six Nations squad as England coach.
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Forwards Maddie Feaunati and Lizzie Hanlon have been rewarded for their form with Exeter Chiefs with a place in the 35-player squad, as has Trailfinders Women winger Vicky Laflin.
Leeds-born flanker Feaunati is the daughter of former Samoa number eight Issac Feaunati and had been included in the Hurricanes Poua squad for Super Rugby Aupiki 2024 prior to her Red Roses call-up.
Prop Hanlon has been an ever-present for third-placed Chiefs in this season’s Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR), while Laflin has scored four tries in Trailfinders’ first campaign in the top flight.
Mitchell is also able to welcome back a trio of experienced players, Zoe Harrison, Emily Scarratt and Abbie Ward ahead of a tournament that the defending champions will start as overwhelming favourites.
Neither Harrison, Scarratt nor Ward have been included in a tournament squad since the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021, which ended in final heartbreak for the Red Roses as they lost to hosts New Zealand in November 2022.
Saracens centre Sophie Bridger, meanwhile, has been called up to a Six Nations squad for the first time and there is also room for her club-mate Sydney Gregson who won the last of her three Test caps in 2015.
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Marlie Packer will once again captain the squad, having led the Red Roses to a Six Nations Grand Slam and the inaugural WXV 1 title in her first year in the role. Packer is one cap away from becoming a Test centurion.
Sarah Bern, Nancy McGillivray and Claudia MacDonald have been ruled out of the tournament through injury – the latter having picked up another neck injury – while the sidelined Katie Buchanan could regain fitness before the end of the Championship. Maisy Allen, Delaney Burns, Lilli Ives Campion and Liz Crake will come into England’s training camp this week as cover.
The squad named by Mitchell on Monday has a combined total of 1,109 caps and contains 19 forwards and 16 backs.
“The Six Nations is an awesome tournament and we have named squad where competition for a place in the matchday 23 exists in every position,” Mitchell said.
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“The girls are showing signs of building good habits when they come into camp and bring with them a great attitude and fantastic energy, which follows on from the commitment they show to their club week on week.
“The Red Roses have excelled in this tournament for a long time. There is a hunger to stay the best, but we must earn the right to win Test matches. We are focused on improving performance and putting teams under more pressure to create a variety of scoring opportunities.
“There is a great excitement around the group, and we are relishing the challenge of the next seven weeks.”
England will begin their title defence against Italy in Parma on 24 March before hosting Wales at Ashton Gate six days later.
Scotland host the Red Roses at Hive Stadium on 13 April before they return to Twickenham to take on Ireland seven days later. Their Championship campaign comes to a close at Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux, against 2023 runners-up France.
England squad:
Forwards: Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury), Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears), Sarah Beckett (Gloucester-Hartpury), Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears), Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury), Poppy Cleall (Saracens), Kelsey Clifford (Saracens), Amy Cokayne (Leicester Tigers), Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs), Rosie Galligan (Saracens), Lizzie Hanlon (Exeter Chiefs), Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning), Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury), Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury), Cath O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning), Marlie Packer (Saracens), Connie Powell (Harlequins), Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks), Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears).
Backs: Holly Aitchison (Bristol Bears), Sophie Bridger (Saracens), Jess Breach (Saracens), Abby Dow (Trailfinders Women), Sydney Gregson (Saracens), Zoe Harrison (Saracens), Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury), Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury), Megan Jones (Leicester Tigers), Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins), Vicky Laflin (Trailfinders Women), Lucy Packer (Harlequins), Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning), Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning), Emma Sing (Gloucester-Hartpury), Ella Wyrwas (Saracens).
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments