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Hunt recalled as Middleton names Red Roses squad

By Nick Heath

07 Mar 2022

Barbarians' Natasha Hunt in action during the Women's International Rugby Killik Cup match between Barbarian Women and Springbok Women's XV (Photo by Bob Bradford - CameraSport via Getty Images)

England head coach Simon Middleton has named a 40-player training squad for the 2022 TikTok Women’s Six Nations with a recall for World Cup-winning scrumhalf Natasha ‘Mo’ Hunt.

It is a huge boost for the Gloucester Hartpury captain who last pulled on the white jersey in November 2020. Hunt has been in fine form in the Allianz Premier 15s and having become a double Olympian with Team GB 7s last August, the 32-year old will know what a huge opportunity this is in another World Cup year.

There is welcome news too for Emily Scarratt who is included having recently returned from the broken leg she sustained on the opening day of the season. Others back from injury who also missed the autumn campaign are Wasps’ Bryony Cleall and Saracens’ Vicky Fleetwood while Shaunagh Brown is also back in to shore up the scrum.

Le French Rugby Podcast – Episode 19

There are three uncapped players included – Saracens hooker May Campbell and scrumhalf Ella Wyrwas plus Gloucester Hartpury full back Emma Sing. There is also a recall for Harlequins’ Rosie Galligan who made her Red Roses debut against Ireland in the 2019 Six Nations.

England won last year’s championship albeit under a changed format designed to limit disruption due to Covid. This year, with a first title sponsor in TikTok, the full round-robin version returns. The Red Roses will not just be aiming to defend their title as winners from last year but extend a winning run that goes back 18 matches.

The squad contains eight players who lifted the World Cup trophy in 2014. Of those, Sarah Hunter will be hoping to add further caps to an incredible 130 gained so far. 2022 could be the year that the England captain becomes the country’s most-capped player.

In contrast Sadia Kabeya, Maud Muir, Connie Powell, Holly Aitchison, Heather Cowell, Lucy Packer and the three uncapped players have yet to experience a minute of TikTok Women’s 6 Nations rugby.

The group will meet at St. George’s Park tomorrow for the first of two camps at the East Midlands venue before fine-tuning their preparations at Bisham Abbey.

Head coach Middleton said: “This is our last competitive tournament before we go into the World Cup so it’s an opportunity for players to put their best foot forward.

Simon Middleton (Photo by Catherine Ivill – RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

“We’ve got some great young players coming through including the likes of Maud Muir and Sadia Kabeya. We also have Lucy Packer, who I think has been absolutely outstanding in the Allianz Premier 15s. We can’t wait to see how they continue with their development.

“We have a tremendous amount of competition in the squad both in terms of the established players and especially in terms of the younger players now coming through, which is great.”

England open their Six Nations campaign in Edinburgh on Saturday 26 March, a noon kick off against Scotland at the DAM Health Stadium.

England 2022 TikTok Women’s Six Nations squad

Forwards
Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 28 caps)
Sarah Beckett (Harlequins, 22 caps)
Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears, 40 caps)
Hannah Botterman (Saracens, 26 caps)
Shaunagh Brown (Harlequins, 24 caps)
Rowena Burnfield (Wasps, 50 caps)
May Campbell (Saracens, uncapped)
Bryony Cleall (Wasps, 5 caps)
Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 50 caps)
Amy Cokayne (Harlequins, 60 caps)
Vickii Cornborough (Harlequins, 64 caps)
Lark Davies (Loughborough Lightning, 35 caps)
Vicky Fleetwood (Saracens, 79 caps)
Rosie Galligan (Harlequins, 1 cap)
Detysha Harper (Loughborough Lightning, 5 caps)
Sarah Hunter (Loughborough Lightning, 130 caps)
Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 2 caps)
Alex Matthews (Worcester Warriors, 45 caps)
Harriet Millar-Mills (Wasps, 66 caps)
Maud Muir (Wasps, 4 caps)
Marlie Packer (Saracens, 79 caps)
Connie Powell (Gloucester-Hartpury, 1 cap)
Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears, 50 caps)

Backs
Holly Aitchison (Saracens, 4 caps)
Jess Breach (Harlequins, 19 caps)
Heather Cowell (Harlequins, 2 caps)
Abby Dow (Wasps, 22 caps)
Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 34 caps)
Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 55 caps)
Leanne Infante (Bristol Bears, 48 caps)
Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 18 caps)
Sarah McKenna (Saracens, 39 caps)
Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 1 cap)
Amber Reed (Bristol Bears, 58 caps)
Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 10 caps)
Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning, 96 caps)
Emma Sing (Gloucester-Hartpury, uncapped)
Lagi Tuima (Harlequins, 12 caps)
Lydia Thompson (Worcester Warriors, 50 caps)
Ella Wyrwas (Saracens, uncapped)

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Comments on RugbyPass

Flankly 12 minutes ago

Let's be real about these All Blacks

left four wins on the table

This is a nonsense phrase that has become popular when rugby fans describe their own teams.

Regardless of the game, or which team you favor, both teams are likely to have "left points behind" or "gifted" their opponents some scores.

The truth is that in these four games NZ were not good enough to impose themselves and deliver the wins. Teams can improve, and I hope NZ does so, but let's not avoid the fact that they tried and failed.

Its not "left wins behind", but "this year we weren't good enough".

25 Go to comments

DM 15 minutes ago

'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'

Hyperbole aside I must be honest I didn’t know there was such a negative perception of him

7 Go to comments

fl 16 minutes ago

'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'

obviously that's hyperbole, but he hasn't generally come across as very likeable.

7 Go to comments

fl 17 minutes ago

'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'

Leicester finished third the next season, with Wigglesworth as head coach.

7 Go to comments

DM 18 minutes ago

'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'

Jeepers does the rest of the world really see Rassie as this evil “Dathvader leading stormtroopers”? I mean really?

7 Go to comments

Nickers 19 minutes ago

Cheslin Kolbe backed to end 16-year wait

Wouldn't surprise me. His nomination is fairly left field but seems like he is just the representative from a great team who doesn't have an obvious superstar.

10 Go to comments

Flankly 25 minutes ago

David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner

The Springboks could easily put another 50 points on them and batter them.

True, but the Boks could also spend the first 60 minutes not clicking at all. The selected pack and halfbacks are really inexperienced by Bok standards, and may need to be bailed out by the bench. The centers and outside backs are world class but they may not get the platform they need to click.

2 Go to comments

NB 25 minutes ago

Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

Yes we never heard a prop explanation either for him or Aled Walters did we? All a bit strange for two such major players to depart at the same time without warning.

4 Go to comments

NB 27 minutes ago

Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

Walters would have a say in that, but the 6/2 or 7/1 bench is more important Bull.

I don't think you can run that D all game with a 5/3 bench, game in game out. At least, not as successfully.

I don't think your claims about a lack of buy-in from England players is right though. What evidence do you have for that? As you can see, I could only find positive comments.

The EP is also the highest ball-in-play league in the world right now, so I don't buy the lazy and unfit line on England players. The problem is the system not the players.

4 Go to comments

johnz 28 minutes ago

New Zealand can't keep losing first fives like Harry Plummer

The reality is NZ Rugby's model just can't keep them all. Unless you have fully fledged All Black's status, you will never be able to earn to your full potential in Super Rugby. If you can't break the top 2 in the ABs for your given position, the only other option is to look abroad for a better salary and career opportunities that match your value.

We'll continue to produce tallent only to have many of our second tier (and first sometimes) of professional players picked off because of the All Black centric model.

This obviously dilutes the quality and competition at SR level. The only way to increase the wage pool for such players at this point is to allow some of our marquee players to play abroad to reduce the wage bill pressure. This already happens under the cover of "sabaticals", but it could be formalised. Do we really need Beauden Barrett playing in NZ, for example. I remember quite clearly he wanted to negotiate a contract that allowed him to be NZ's first official Japanese based player. Part of him doesn't want to be turning out for the Blues every week in any case.

Some of his huge salary could have been used to keep Plummer, or invest in other valuable tallent essential for the health of Super Rugby.

5 Go to comments

Flankly 31 minutes ago

'Steve Borthwick hung his troops out to dry - he should take some blame'

Borthwick should not be saying things like this, regardless of their truth.

He should be under-committing and over-delivering, to give the team a shot at rising to the top over the longer term. Having said that, it did not work for Eddie Jones. The RFU administrators don't like that kind of thing.

7 Go to comments

J Marc 35 minutes ago

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Leagues and fédérations have the same organisation for all professionnal sports in France. Fédérations is the general governing body of the sport and delegate the professionnal part of the sport to leagues. And compensation for international players is payed to the LNR by the FFR. Then LNR pay clubs.

293 Go to comments

Nickers 35 minutes ago

Five changes for the All Blacks, including the return of Sam Cane

Totally agree. Nothing to gain from this game from playing BB and Dmac again. This fixture should always have been earmarked for a few more players like Higgins, Love, etc... It's being used as a testimonial for aging payers instead!

7 Go to comments

Nickers 36 minutes ago

Five changes for the All Blacks, including the return of Sam Cane

How refreshing it would have been to see the likes of Ruben Love, Riley Higgins, or Noah Hotham be selected for a fixture like this.

7 Go to comments

Nickers 38 minutes ago

Let's be real about these All Blacks

B is probably about right for the season. B+ for results, but B- for improvement throughout the season.

My main takeaway has been the number of tries that have been left on the field. Thinking back to Fozzie's first couple of years they really struggled to create anything, but took their chances pretty well when they came and still had the individual talent to conjure the odd piece of magic against the run of play.

This year's team has been given a lot more license to attack and have created so many opportunities, only for so many to go begging. I thought the efforts against SA, Ireland and France were all worthy of 4 tries minimum, but simple mistakes at the wrong time, pushing passes instead of retaining the ball, and taking completely the wrong option has kept us to 2 tries when 3 would have won it.

It certainly has the makings of something good, but next year will be the real litmus test to see if this is an attacking structure that can evolve and improve, or will always be hit and miss because of it's very nature and lack of structure.

25 Go to comments

Jacque 39 minutes ago

Scotland won't be 'taken seriously' if they can't beat Australia

Weird reading about Scotland in the media. One would almost think they are Top 3 in the world.

1 Go to comments

J Marc 43 minutes ago

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Sure, it's in the culture of most of french clubs, but we can see with Guillard an other kind of 5.

293 Go to comments

NB 47 minutes ago

'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Skelton and Meafou are not exceptions JM - Van der Mescht, Romain Taofifenua, Poloniati, Willemse, Maximin, Alainuese, Posolo Tuilagi etc These guys are deliberately hunted in the market by Top 14 clubs.