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'Letting people understand you as a person as well as a player is fundamental to our success'

Credit: WiredPhotos

Walking through the doors into England camp fills you with all sorts of emotions. On one end of the spectrum, it’s the excitement to see friends from different clubs, catch up and play some incredible rugby. On the other end it’s that pit of nerves for the grueling sessions ahead (including fitness testing!), it’s that imposter syndrome of ‘Am I really one of the best players in England to be in this room?’ But for sure, the excitement outweighs the nerves.

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Our most recent camp had a lot of new younger faces which was refreshing. We had the likes of Steph Else and Millie Hyett from Gloucester-Hartpury who put in a shift, as well as Ella Cromack, the young Harlequins fly-half who was incredibly attentive and knew her detail.

It was really impressive to see and they definitely gained the respect of the group. It was also amazing to see Ellena Perry back in camp.

What a journey she has had. I played with Elle at divisional and England U20s level. She was a workhorse and could dominate both in attack and defence.

She’s been through a bit of a ride with rugby; a few head knocks and injuries, a few disappointing selection calls when involved in the EPS setup, but I am so glad that she is back on the pitch and could potentially pull on a white shirt in the 2024 Six Nations, with her little boy by her side.

Off-the-pitch experiences are just as important as on-pitch memories. Being able to share your story and let people understand you as a person as well as a player is fundamental to our success. One highlight for me from camp is that I’m going to be able to tick something off my bucket list… Steph Else lives on a farm in Yorkshire and she has dairy cows – I’m finally going to be able to milk a cow!

We are back at our clubs now, but the season is flying by and before we know it we will be on a plane to Italy, preparing for our first Six Nations fixture.

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I am really excited for the second game against Wales at Ashton Gate. The location for this match is perfect as there will be many Welsh fans who make the drive across the bridge to show their support for the Welsh Women. The atmosphere, as like any England v Wales game will be incredible. A day full of passion, great ruby and bitter rivalries.

The game against Ireland on 20th April will hopefully be another history-maker. No, not because it’s my mum’s birthday (I couldn’t possibly not mention it!) but because we are back at HQ for the second year running in a standalone Six Nations game. As always we are wanting to keep moving forward and pushing boundaries, so I’m excited to see what attendance we can reach this year – one year out from a World Cup.

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The Dual between Saracens and Harlequins was a massive occasion. The media team at Saracens did really well to promote it and make it really visible for people to get involved in the hype. We did a bit of a promo video of a confession booth and that went down really well. I think it put a bit of pressure on us because there was a bit of hype around it so we had to go out and perform.

There were some really positive bits of rugby, and there were also some parts where we probably didn’t execute. It’s now just a case of learning from Harlequins and taking it forward to the Super PWR weekend that’s coming up for us against Leicester Tigers and righting some wrongs again like we try and do every week.

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The Super PWR weekend coming up will also be massive. Like anything, the only way you can get involved is if you can see it. There has definitely been a lot of promotion around it already. I hope it’s a weekend that can showcase what women’s rugby is about again and it’s another stepping stone in the right direction to try and make rugby a sport that’s ever-evolving, and getting us in a good place for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025.

Hopefully it will also help with the PWR’s ten-year plan of trying to make the league professional. It’s a really good starting platform for us and it showcases that there are a lot of stakeholders trying to get involved and make the sport a better place to be.

Looking ahead to our next game, Leicester Tigers have come on massively. You can see that from the last few results that they’ve had, they’ll definitely be feeling good in that sense. We saw the news about them having five points deducted because of the EQP requirements, but aside from that they’re starting to put a really good team together.

It’s exciting that they are being able to do that as a new team next year. They’ll be coming to the StoneX, they’ve got some key playmakers that I actually think will really thrive on an artificial pitch as well. It will be a game that will be completely different to when we played them at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in the first half of the season.

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Comments

1 Comment
R
Rugby 249 days ago

Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025 - England for sure.

In WXV 1 2023 England dominated that easily beating New Zealand 33-12.

England should have and could won the the 2021 Rugby World Cup.
Final score England 31–34 New Zealand
but....
England played with 14 players for 63 minutes
Lydia Thompson was red-carded when England was cruising and leading 14-0.
England was also leading in the 72nd minute.
So dominate on that day everyone could see that, gee Wayne Smith was knighted because he was the coach of NZ. Bizarre. But they only won because of one catastrophic English mistake.

Good luck for WXV 2024
And 2025 Rugby World Cup.
It is yours.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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