LONG READ Who are the contenders to replace Abby 'Wow' on England's wing?

Were the Red Roses to formally advertise for a new right winger after Abby Dow’s retirement in November, the job specification would look terrifyingly daunting.

The successful candidate would be expected to score at least 5 tries in England’s 2026 Six Nations campaign (Dow has averaged 5.3 tries in each of the past three Six Nations).

On top of that, they’d need to contribute around 590 running metres. Dow has averaged this astonishing number over the past three campaigns – the highest of any player in the Six Nations over that period.

They’d then need to find time to make 10 line-breaks across the Championship, which is again Dow’s Six Nations average since 2023.

All of this serves to underline why replacing Abby Dow is an impossible task. She has been a dazzling one off. A player whose value to her team is evident from her numbers, yet it’s how she made people feel that truly makes her an England great.

Then there’s the extra-curricular skills that are required: a passion for crochet that connects England with their fans in a way that’s never been seen before, the ability to never miss an opportunity to land a cheesy pun, and a brother with a fancy-dress wardrobe the size of the BBC’s costume department.

All of this serves to underline why replacing Abby Dow is an impossible task. She has been a dazzling one off. A player whose value to her team is evident from her numbers (another one to marvel at is her 50 tries in 59 Test appearances) yet it’s how she made people feel that truly makes her an England great.

The number of people edging towards the front of their seat when the ball came out to her wing, who gasped when she careered through attempted tackle after attempted tackle, often on the cusp of being brought down but surviving until the try-line beckoned her over it, again. These are the ways in which Dow will be remembered as a Red Rose. She was known as ‘Abby Wow’ for a reason.

There may not be another quite like her out there. Come England’s Six Nations opener against Ireland on April 11th next year, someone currently playing in the PWR is going to have the job of trying to fill her shirt, if not her shoes.

Here’s who heads our list of contenders to England’s newly-vacant number 14 shirt.

Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, Exeter Chiefs
Aged 29 and with 36 England caps and 21 tries, Moloney-MacDonald is seemingly in the driving seat to take over on England’s right wing.

Moloney-MacDonald’s sidestep remains as devastating as ever and her fitness levels are sky high

She’s proven herself to be a brilliant squad member during the World Cup in 2022 (who can forget her stunning cameo in setting up Dow for a length-of-the-field try in the semi-final vs Canada) and in winning the World Cup this summer too.

She has started this season terrifically for the Chiefs and is second only to Gloucester-Hartpury full-back Emma Sing in terms of running metres after six rounds of the PWR. Although her rivals have better top-end speed, Moloney-MacDonald’s sidestep remains as devastating as ever and her fitness levels are sky high, allowing her to deliver the same quality on the ball in the last minute as in the first.

There would be something inherently just about Moloney-Macdonald – a former team-mate of Dow’s at Wasps for many years – wearing the number 14 shirt for the 2026 Six Nations.

Mia Venner, Gloucester-Hartpury
If England head coach John Mitchell chooses to look at a younger crop of wingers, the first name on that list is surely the 23-year-old Mia Venner, who made her first start for England in the last Six Nations against Italy, capping her assured performance with a try.

It’s very possible that if Venner is handed the number 14 shirt for the 2026 Six Nations she will take to it seamlessly, making everyone wonder why anyone else was in the conversation.

Venner has looked strong in the opening rounds of the season yet hasn’t garnered the headlines that other wingers have. There’s one very good reason for that: the champions have headline-makers in every position. At times the ball doesn’t find its way to Venner simply because the players inside her have already scored the try: Tatyana Heard, Jade Shekells, Hannah Dallavalle and Mo Hunt all know shortcuts to the try-line that don’t require Venner, or any of her fellow back-three players.

And let’s be honest, the backs at Gloucester-Hartpury are living off scraps anyway given that Zoe Stratford, Alex Matthews, Sarah Beckett, Georgia Brock, Kate Williams and Sisilia Tuipulotu don’t need any help at all in crossing the try-line.

There is a flip side to this for Venner. A positive one. Because mixing with so many Red Roses and PWR superstars should make the step-up to the international game – where she has two caps to her name already – a smaller one to take than it is for her rivals.

It’s very possible that if Venner is handed the number 14 shirt for the 2026 Six Nations she will take to it seamlessly, making everyone wonder why anyone else was in the conversation.

If Mitchell wants size and power on the wing going forwards, then Westcombe-Evans fits that mould better than anyone else

Bo Westcombe-Evans, Loughborough Lightning
But whilst the conversation flows, let’s talk about Bo Westcombe-Evans. Like Venner, she has two caps for the Red Roses, after scoring on debut against the USA in WXV in 2024. If Mitchell wants size and power on the wing going forwards, then Westcombe-Evans fits that mould better than anyone else on our short list. She has the same Dow quality of being able to clatter into front doors and come out the other side still standing.

She’s amongst the top three players in the league for clean breaks with 10 so far this season (equal with Mille David and one behind Ellie Kildunne) as well as scoring five tries. And she’s still warming up, being just five matches in to her comeback from an ACL rupture in her left knee that kept her out of the game for a year.

Millie David
Millie David is a phenomenon with the ball in her hands. She travels faster than fire and scores tries that few others can even imagine. She won last season’s PWR Breakthrough Player of the Season award after touching down 17 times (top equal with Saracens hooker May Campbell) then spent the summer impressing in the colours of England U20’s. Somewhere along that heady trajectory she earned the nickname ‘Millie Whizz’, and it’s easy to see why.

David does have a way to go in proving her qualities in defence and in the air. A first England cap, however, can’t be far away.

This season only Exeter flanker Maisy Allen has scored more than her five tries and she’s fifth in the charts for running metres (behind Moloney-MacDonald, Sing, Bristol’s Ella Lovibond and Kildunne).

However, few 20-year-olds are the complete article and David does have a way to go in proving her qualities in defence and in the air. A first England cap, however, can’t be far away.

Reneeqa Bonner, Bristol Bears
When players return from the sevens circuit to play 15s again, there’s often a period in which their sevens instinct to run the ball at every opportunity, runs them into trouble. Not for 21-year-old Reneeqa Bonner who spent most of last season playing for GB7s and has since returned to the PWR to blast her way through all-comers on the Bristol right wing.

For England, replacing the quality of a player like Dow in her prime is always going to take time and no-one would expect the next player that wears the England 14 shirt to have the same impact from the get-go.

Her key weapon is a sidestep-fend, in which she thrusts a hand into the chest of her opponent whilst driving away from them with her leg power. This creates space for herself where none seemed to exist. Then she’s gone. Once in full flight, she causes similar havoc to David and together the pair have been dubbed Bristol’s ‘whizz kids’. Bonner has beaten even more defenders than her team-mate however: 22 to David’s 21 at the last count.

Like David, Mitchell must be tempted to find out if she’s ready for the international stage.

For England, replacing the quality of a player like Dow in her prime is always going to take time and no-one would expect the next player that wears the England 14 shirt to have the same impact from the get-go.

What we can say for certain is that with the calibre of replacement England can chose from, the quest to fill England’s vacant right-wing berth will make for a fascinating sideshow during the 2026 Six Nations, and most likely beyond.