England Woman make five changes for Ireland Test
Simon Middleton has made five changes to England Women’s starting 15 ahead of their game against Ireland on Sunday 13 November at University College Dublin, KO 2pm.
The Red Roses play again this week having ground out a tough 10 – 5 win over France on Wednesday night at the Twickenham Stoop, with Amy Cokayne and Marlie Packer providing England’s two tries.
Rochelle Clark will start on Sunday to overtake Jason Leonard’s record and become England’s most capped player with 115 games, equalling Donna Kennedy’s record in the women’s game.
20-year-old Cokayne moves to the bench with Vicky Fleetwood coming into the starting line up alongside Harriet Millar-Mills, La Toya Mason and Emily Scott. Bristol flanker Poppy Cleall comes onto the bench.
The side travel to Ireland today ahead of Sunday’s game, which will be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube, with Middleton looking forward to the Red Roses’ next match.
“This series is about replicating a World Cup environment with its tight turnarounds and world-class competition. Our plan was always to rotate the squad and look at different player combinations and I am confident that, with the quality and strength of our squad, whatever combination we use we can produce a positive result.”
After Wednesday night’s win against the 2016 Six Nations champions he added: “We were by no means perfect but we showed immense pride in our performance and a real will to win.
“It did have the feel of the first game of the season with players who hadn’t played alongside each other for a long time, however I thought some of our game management and game plan execution was outstanding, as was our defence which came under great pressure at times. We look forward to building on that performance this Sunday.”
England and Ireland last met at Twickenham in the 2016 Six Nations, with the Red Roses securing a 13-9 victory. They have won three out of their last four encounters against the Irish.
Wednesday’s Test against France opened the first-ever sponsored women’s autumn series, with the Red Roses hosting two more home games, against the world’s number one side New Zealand on Saturday 19 November (Twickenham Stoop, KO 12pm) and Canada, ranked second in the world, on Saturday 26 November (Twickenham Stadium, KO 5.05pm).
The draw for the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 was made on Wednesday, with England drawn in Pool B against USA, Italy and Scotland/Spain. The tournament takes place in Ireland on 9-26 August 2017, at venues in Dublin and Belfast.
England match-day 23 against Ireland
15 Danielle Waterman (Bristol, 61 caps)
14 Kay Wilson (Richmond, 37 caps)
13 Claire Allan (Saracens, 33 caps)
12 Rachael Burford (Aylesford Bulls, 57 caps)
11 Fiona Pocock (Aylesford Bulls, 30 caps)
10 Emily Scott (Saracens, 13 caps)
9 La Toya Mason (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 57 caps)
1 Rochelle Clark (Worcester Valkyries, 114 caps)
2 Vicky Fleetwood (Saracens, 52 caps)
3 Laura Keates (Worcester Valkyries, 53 caps)
4 Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 95 caps)
5 Harriet Millar-Mills (Lichfield, 35 caps)
6 Alex Matthews (Richmond, 25 caps)
7 Marlie Packer (Bristol, 37 caps)
8 Sarah Hunter (Bristol, 82 caps) (c)
16 Amy Cokayne (Lichfield, 17 caps)
17 Vickii Cornborough (Aylesford Bulls, 18 caps)
18 Sarah Bern (Bristol, 3 caps)
19 Poppy Cleall (Bristol, 4 caps)
20 Izzy Noel-Smith (Bristol, 21 caps)
21 Natasha Hunt (Lichfield, 30 caps)
22 Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 78 caps)
23 Ceri Large (Worcester Valkyries, 51 caps)
Old Mutual Wealth Series
England 10 – 5 France
Wednesday 9 November
Twickenham Stoop
England v New Zealand, Saturday 19 November
Twickenham Stoop, KO 12pm
Tickets available here
The match will be livestreamed HERE
England v Canada, Saturday 26 November
Twickenham, KO 5.05pm
FREE entry after the conclusion of the men’s game
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