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Marlie Packer to reach Test century as England name team to face Italy in round one of the Six Nations
England captain Marlie Packer will make her 100th appearance for the Red Roses in the opening round of the 2024 Women’s Six Nations when England play Italy in Parma.
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Packer made her debut in 2008 against Sweden and will become the seventh woman to reach a century for England on Sunday.
The 34-year-old will join Amy Garnett to become the sixth most-capped English female player of all time.
Originally from Yeovil, Packer has scored 43 tries in her England career so far, which makes her seventh for the total number of tries scored by a Red Roses player.
Speaking about the England captain’s achievement, head coach John Mitchell said: “Reaching 100 caps for your country is an awesome achievement.
“Talking to Marlie about her journey, she has had to overcome adversity since her Test debut in 2008.
“What has been evident since I first met her is her determination to succeed has been ingrained in her over the past 16 years, helping her achieve she has in the game.
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“She epitomises what it is to be a Red Rose.”
In comparison, Kelsey Clifford will make her first test start and lines up as tighthead prop alongside Lark Atkin-Davies at hooker and Hannah Botterman at loosehead. Exeter Chiefs’ Maddie Feaunati is named on the bench, and if used, will make her England debut.
Additionally, Zoe Harrison, Emily Scarratt, and Abbie Ward are all included in the starting XV for the first time since the 2022 World Cup final.
Sadia Kabeya and Lucy Packer both return from the injuries which ruled them out of England’s victorious WXV campaign in 2023 to earn starting places in England’s opening round Six Nations fixture.
“We are excited to get going in what is an awesome tournament,” Mitchell added. “We are focused on improving our performance. We want to get quicker at our game, we want to create more pressure on the opposition, and we want to present attacking opportunities. Italy is our first opportunity to put into practice what we are aiming to achieve.”
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The 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations kicks off on Saturday 23rd March with France facing Ireland in Le Mans, before Wales host Scotland at 16:45.
Italy, who go into the match having won three matches from three in WXV 2 last year, host England at 15:00 on Sunday 24th March.
There are three places in WXV 1 up for grabs from the 2024 Six Nations, two in WXV 2, and the sixth-placed Six Nations team will play off against the winners of the Rugby Europe Championship to determine whether they compete in WXV 2 or WXV 3.
The top three teams will travel to Canada to face the top three teams from the World Rugby Pacific Four Series in WXV 1.
The Netherlands are the only team so far to have secured a place in WXV in 2024, earning their place in WXV 3 when they beat Colombia in the play-off for the place in the third level, which will take place in Dubai.
England team to face Italy:
15 Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 38 caps)
14 Abby Dow (Trailfinders Women, 40 caps)
13 Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 28 caps)
12 Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning, 108 caps)
11 Jess Breach (Saracens, 33 caps)
10 Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 46 caps)
9 Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 16 caps)
1 Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears, 42 caps)
2 Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears, 54 caps)
3 Kelsey Clifford (Saracens, 3 caps)
4 Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 48 caps)
5 Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears, 61 caps)
6 Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 13 caps)
7 Marlie Packer (Saracens, 99 caps)
8 Sarah Beckett (Gloucester-Hartpury, 34 caps)
Replacements
16 Connie Powell (Harlequins, 14 caps)
17 Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury, 10 caps)
18 Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 25 caps)
19 Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
20 Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, 62 caps)
21 Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 67 caps)
22 Holly Aitchison (Bristol Bears, 25 caps)
23 Megan Jones (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
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 …
31 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!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 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.
31 Go to comments