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John Mitchell: 'I think we are the standard bearers'
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Marlie Packer, Meg Jones 'there to support' injured England captain Zoe Aldcroft
Marlie Packer says her and vice-captain Meg Jones have “been there to support” Zoe Aldcroft after the England captain was ruled out of the rest of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 pool stage with a knee injury.
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Packer will skipper the Red Roses in their second Pool A assignment, against Samoa in Northampton on Saturday, as Aldcroft sits out an England game for the first time since she took the captaincy in January.
Aldcroft suffered the injury during England’s opening 69-7 victory against USA in Sunderland last Friday – the team’s 28th win in a row – but has been on hand to help her vice-captains, Packer and Jones, lead training in her absence.
“Me and Meg Jones have massively stepped up this week,” Packer said. “We’ve just been there to support Zoe in whatever she needs, but she’s also been doing the same for us in training.
“Me, her and Meg caught up after the session, just talking about a couple of little bits we want to work on as a group in how we want to be perceived, so we’re still just doing our roles as normal.”
Packer is one of only two players in England’s matchday squad – alongside replacement scrum-half Natasha Hunt – who have played Samoa previously.
The pair were part of a team, which also featured wider squad member Emily Scarratt and assistant coach Sarah Hunter, who beat the Pacific Island nation 65-3 in the pool stage of the victorious 2014 campaign. Hunt scored two tries in that match while Scarratt ended it with 20 points.
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Winger Claudia Moloney-MacDonald insisted England didn’t expect to win Saturday’s game at Franklin’s Gardens so emphatically, despite being overwhelming favourites.
And Packer suggested the Red Roses were keen to avoid complacency. “It’s making sure that we stick to our processes, keep our feet on the ground,” she said.
“This group, this combination has been training together for a long time. We’ve played a couple of matches together and a few players just want to kick off their tournament this weekend and go out there and express themselves and enjoy it.
“We always have team goals or targets that we want to hit and I know that this 23 want to do that just like last week did.”
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Like Packer and Moloney-MacDonald, Helena Rowland is one of a number of players in the England team preparing to play their first game of the 2025 World Cup.
The hugely versatile back missed out on a place among the replacements against USA after suffering a knock in training last week and England coach John Mitchell underlined her importance to his side as he suggested Rowland would normally be the first name in his 23-player squad.
“Helena knows she is the most versatile person within the group,” Mitchell said. “She’s highly valued. She’s sort of first on the team sheet in terms of 23.
“Zoe [Harrison] has carried a huge load in that area since the warm-up matches, so it’s good to get Helena going. Helena’s also playing on her home ground as well, so she’s pretty excited, the whole group is.
“If you look at this combination, the majority of them have played together against Italy [in the Women’s Six Nations], Spain and now they get the opportunity in the World Cup.
“They’ve got a lot of energy, this group is certainly highly motivated and it’s their chance to express themselves, to make the rest of the group proud.
“Also, Helena is a hard marker. She’s hardly ever satisfied around her performance, which is, I guess, the quality of who she is and why she’s so consistent and so versatile.
“She got an awesome skill set and she’s got the speed to hunt weakness in defences.”
