Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

John Mitchell hands Exeter flanker first England start as stalwart returns

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 20: Maddie Feaunati of England celebrates as she scores her team's fourteenth try during the Guinness Women's Six Nations 2024 match between England and Ireland at Twickenham Stadium on April 20, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Maddie Feaunati will make her full England debut against France on Saturday as Helena Rowland returns to the Red Roses line-up for the first time since the opening match of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

ADVERTISEMENT

Feaunati, the daughter of former Samoa and Bath number eight Isaac, made five appearances as a replacement during England’s successful Six Nations campaign but will make her first start at Kingsholm.

The Exeter Chiefs flanker comes into the back row in place of the injured Sadia Kabeya, who will miss this month’s matches against France and New Zealand as well as the team’s WXV 1 title defence in Canada.

Video Spacer

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – One year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup

With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.

Register now for the ticket presale

Video Spacer

‘This Energy Never Stops’ – One year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup

With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.

Register now for the ticket presale

Meg Jones has also been ruled out of the Red Roses’ end-of-year commitments, with an ankle injury, and has been replaced at outside centre by Rowland.

England coach John Mitchell has resisted making any further changes to the side that beat Les Bleues 42-21 in Bordeaux in April, wrapping up a sixth successive Six Nations title in the process.

However, England U20 captain Lilli Ives Campion is set to win her first cap from the bench while fellow replacement, Zoe Harrison will play her 50th Test if called upon at Kingsholm.

Prop Sarah Bern also returns to the squad as a replacement, having missed the entire Six Nations campaign through injury.

ADVERTISEMENT
Fixture
Women's Internationals
England Womens
38 - 19
Full-time
France Womens
All Stats and Data

“We’re excited to get started after the girls being outstanding in raising their standards and growing their resilience in pre-season,” Mitchell said.

“The girls just want to play, and we have chosen to host world class opponents for us to be challenged and to improve our game heading into WXV and an exciting 2025.”

On playing in Gloucester, he added: “It’s a place that smells of rugby and has a real rugby community.

“I have fond memories of playing for the All Blacks at Kingsholm and winning my first game as Sale coach there. It’s a special place and this weekend the girls have an opportunity to make their own memories together.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Red Roses team to play France

15. Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 43 caps)
14. Abby Dow (Trailfinders Women, 45 caps)
13. Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 29 caps)
12. Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury, 22 caps)
11. Jess Breach (Saracens, 38 caps)
10. Holly Aitchison (Bristol Bears, 30 caps)
9. Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 72 caps)
1. Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears, 47 caps)
2. Amy Cokayne (Leicester Tigers, 74 caps)
3. Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 30 caps)
4. Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 53 caps)
5. Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks, 13 caps)
6. Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs, 5 caps)
7. Marlie Packer (Saracens, 104 caps) – captain
8. Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, 67 caps)

Replacements
16. Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears, 57 caps)
17. Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury, 15 caps)
18. Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears, 61 caps)
19. Lilli Ives Campion (Loughborough Lightning, uncapped)
20. Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 65 caps)
21. Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 21 caps)
22. Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 49 caps)
23. Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning, 111 caps)

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

6 Comments
C
CN 76 days ago

Have you ever seen a stronger bench?

B
BC 76 days ago

It's impossible for the Red Roses to field anything other than a strong team and bench. I can imagine steam coming out of Poppy Cleall's ears whilst watching the first half, The team against the BFs will be enlightening as to which Mitchell thinks is the greater threat. I think it is France. It always is and we have beaten BFs comfortably in 3 out of our last 4 matches. The less said about the other one with 14 players the better.

B
BC 76 days ago

I have a lot of faith in Mitchell, having been sceptical at first. He identifies with the women extremely well and brings a huge amount of rugby nous with him. The Red Roses have moved up another gear or two under his regime.

B
BC 76 days ago

Really good to see Helena back, roles are now reversed as Meg Jones brilliantly stepped in when Helena was injured in 6N. I think Abby Ward has a slight calf injury and is being held back for the Black Ferns or WXV1.

C
CN 76 days ago

I reckon you're quite a fan of Helena Rowland as I'm sure you have highlighted her previously. I like that she is a different type of 13 and she can kick, run, pass which always leaves the opposition guessing. If she has one work on I would say it would be her tackling, she is not poor, it's just not the strongest part of her game.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Michael Hooper reacts to Scott Barrett’s controversial late-game call Michael Hooper reacts to Scott Barrett’s controversial late-game call
Search