Pink Roses captain Marlie Packer says she shouldn’t be centered on reaching the 100 cap milestone forward of England’s opening Girls’s Six Nations match in opposition to Italy on Sunday.
Packer, who’s in line to grow to be a Check centurion within the sport, made her England debut in 2008 and has performed for her nation for 16 years. She has represented Tub, Wasps and Bristol earlier than her transfer to present membership Saracens in 2017.
England wish to obtain a sixth Six Nations title in a row, and third Grand Slam in succession.
“I try not to think about receiving my 100th cap too much. I just want to get out there and play now,” Packer mentioned chatting with Sky Sports activities.
“Everytime you get the chance to placed on this shirt, you wish to make it a really particular one and ensure you depart it in the absolute best place.
“That’s the way I see it, I want to start the tournament and it doesn’t matter where I get my 100th cap.”
This will probably be John Mitchell’s first Six Nations answerable for the Pink Roses after Simon Middleton concluded his eight-year reign final yr.
New Zealander Mitchell served as defence coach for the boys’s workforce beneath Eddie Jones between 2018 and 2021.
Uncapped Exeter Chiefs duo Maddie Feaunati and Lizzie Hanlon have been referred to as up as Zoe Harrison, Emily Scarratt and Abbie Ward all return. It’s the primary time the trio will function in a Pink Roses event squad because the 2022 Rugby World Cup remaining.
The squad is made up of 19 forwards and 16 backs, with a mixed complete of 1,109 Check caps.
“Going into the WXV tournament we changed the way we wanted to play and I think you’ll get to see a little bit more sparkle from the Red Roses this Six Nations,” Packer mentioned.
“Mitchell made us take into consideration what we’re doing, made us see issues in a different way and simply posed questions that we haven’t fairly had earlier than.
“We will carry tempo however then additionally management the tempo. The way in which we performed was loads off the 9 and which may look a little bit bit totally different.
“It’s simply going to be much more thrilling I feel. I don’t suppose we’re going to see a lot boot to ball from England that we would have carried out beforehand.
Tighthead prop Sarah Bern and scrum-half Claudia MacDonald are two of England’s greatest names however will miss everything of the competitors by way of damage.
Malcolm: Scotland’s squad ‘strongest’ I have been a part of
Scotland received two video games in final yr’s Six Nations to complete in fourth place. Their captain Rachel Malcolm hopes the workforce will be capable to carry out extra constantly all through this yr’s event.
“We’ve got a pretty exciting squad, it’s a mixture of young talent and experienced old players like myself so we’re in a really good place,” Malcolm mentioned.
“If I contrast it to last year, we were probably not in a brilliant place. It was not our best performance whereas now I think we’ve had probably one of our best years in a very long time and won our first trophy in 21 years.
“We have additionally bought six wins in a row so I feel we’re going out with a little bit little bit of momentum and we have most likely bought the strongest squad that I’ve seen in my time as a part of the Scotland squad.
“We just want to go out and perform to the best of our ability and our potential.”
Head coach Bryan Easson named seven uncapped gamers in Scotland girls’s coaching squad for the Six Nations final month.
Jones: Wales assured after ending in high three final yr
Wales completed in third place final yr, beating Eire, Scotland and Italy.
“If we glance again on final yr, we made it to the highest three and clearly it provides you a little bit of confidence so now we’re simply specializing in the method and onerous work forward and hopefully the outcomes observe,” said Wales captain Hannah Jones.
“We’re taking each game as it comes and building that momentum. We’re very ambitious and want to win every game.
“That high three place we all know as gamers is essential with World Cup qualification and the WXV event you wish to play high flight of rugby so we’re undoubtedly working onerous to get close to that.
“Scotland are always a physical battle. They’re always fun to play against. We’re looking forward to that and the Cardiff fans in a home game.
“England have gotten a powerful pack and an amazing backline, we play with the gamers week in week out within the Premiership.
“It will be challenging going from club into international duties but we’re looking forward to play against them in a Welsh jersey.”
Pink Roses’ 2024 Girls’s Six Nations Squad
Forwards (19)
- Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 48 caps)
- Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears, 54 caps)
- Sarah Beckett (Gloucester-Hartpury, 34 caps)
- Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears, 42 caps)
- Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury, 10 caps)
- Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 65 caps)
- Kelsey Clifford (Saracens, 3 caps)
- Amy Cokayne (Leicester Tigers, 72 caps)
- Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
- Rosie Galligan (Saracens, 14 caps)
- Lizzie Hanlon (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
- Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 13 caps)
- Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, 62 caps)
- Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 25 caps)
- Cath O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning, 30 caps)
- Marlie Packer (Saracens, 99 caps)
- Connie Powell (Harlequins, 14 caps)
- Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks, 11 caps)
- Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears, 61 caps)
Backs (16)
- Holly Aitchison (Bristol Bears, 25 caps)
- Sophie Bridger (Saracens, 2 caps)
- Jess Breach (Saracens, 33 caps)
- Abby Dow (Trailfinders Girls, 40 caps)
- Sydney Gregson (Saracens, 3 caps)
- Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 46 caps)
- Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury, 18 caps)
- Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 67 caps)
- Megan Jones (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
- Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 38 caps)
- Vicky Laflin (Trailfinders Girls, uncapped)
- Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 16 caps)
- Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 28 caps)
- Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning, 108 caps)
- Emma Sing (Gloucester-Hartpury, 6 caps)
- Ella Wyrwas (Saracens, 6 caps)
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