Red Roses players step up amid 'unheard of' England injury crisis

England defence coach Sarah Hunter described the Red Roses’ current injury crisis as “unheard of” ahead of their Guinness Women’s Six Nations clash with Scotland.

Coming into the Round 2 clash at Scottish Gas Murrayfield the side are without 12 of the players that helped the team to Women’s Rugby World Cup glory last September.

But while the retirements of Abby Dow and Emily Scarratt were accounted for, in recent months Zoe Stratford, Abbie Ward, Lark Atkin-Davies and Rosie Galligan have announced pregnancies, while Morwenna Talling, Natasha Hunt, May Campbell, Hannah Botterman and Tatyana Heard have been ruled out of the tournament.

Two-time Women’s Rugby World Cup winner Alex Matthews has been ruled out of this weekend’s game with a shoulder injury too.

“I think it’s quite unheard of within an England squad over the years,” Hunter said.

“If we think about it, in a four year cycle, it’s almost good that we’re having this situation now, that we can grow and develop some of the younger players coming through – it might be accelerating them a little bit.”

When it comes to the Red Roses’ long unavailable list at lock forward, John Mitchell has opted to put Trailfinders Women’s Abi Burton in the second row.

A two-time Olympian, 26-year-old Burton is primarily a No.8, but has jumped at the opportunity to win her sixth Test cap from the row.

“Abi [Burton] is such a brilliant character that she’s just gone ‘alright, I’ll put my head in there’,” Hunter smiled. “She will do anything for for an England shirt, and if that means going in the second row, that means going in the second row. She’s been brilliant.”

This weekend – at a Scottish Gas Murrayfield that will host a Scottish record for a standalone women’s sports fixture – there will also be an international debut for teenage Bristol Bears forward Demelza Short.

The 19-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough season in Premiership Women’s Rugby World Cup and will start in a back-row containing Sadia Kabeya and Maddie Feaunati.

“It’s a great opportunity for her,” Kabeya said. “She has been compared to the likes of Zoe Stratford. She’s someone who’s very good in the loose, she can carry when she needs to and she has got really great ball skills.

“She’s come into training, she’s been very, very comfortable in there. It can be quite daunting someone into a England squad so young, but I think the great thing about this Red Roses team is the culture we’ve built and it has been easy to integrate all the new girls.”

Also an option at lock forward it is not hard to see how Short has drawn comparisons to Red Roses skipper and former World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year, Stratford.

It is a heady comparison. A lot to live up to. Although the youngster is yet to show any signs of being overawed by a rapid rise to senior Test rugby this season.

“She’s fit right in,” Hunter said. “It’s a credit to her and how she’s taken her opportunity and chance. She was playing Under-18s Six Nations last year and a year on she’s playing in the senior Six Nations.

“Her first cap [will be] in front of 30,000 people at Murrayfield. Go back to 2007, I got mine against Scotland at Old Albanian in front of about 200 people.”