3. ICONS RETURN: WARD, SCARRATT & HARRISON SELECTED TO START AGAINST ITALY
The Red Roses have welcomed back a trio of players, all of who have not been seen on the test match stage since the 2022 Rugby World Cup Final. Emily Scarratt, Zoe Harrison and Abby Ward all took extended time away from the England camp after the defeat to the Black Ferns, but are back firing on all cylinders for the upcoming Women’s Six Nations.
Scarratt and Harrison have both battled back from injuries, whilst Ward welcomed a baby to the world last Autumn. The three players are established and experienced, with plentiful leadership traits that can push England forward.
However, since they have been out of camp, there has been a re-arrangement to the leadership culture, with the Red Roses Thorns now replaced by the Game Drivers. Packer and Mitchell spoke about how the trio have settled in to this new era, as all three players prepare to start in this Sunday’s match against Italy.
JOHN MITCHELL: “Thorns was a previous process that worked well for the group, then. I think we’ve become more performance oriented. I think we understand how the environment can affect performance. So first and foremost, we’re focused on our performance, but we’re very mindful of our environment.
“We’re very mindful of our people belonging quickly. And we’re very mindful around caring for each other. So that’s kind of the focus for us, and we’ve got a number of processes in the week that leads from leader group to strategy groups, to drivers that lead us into the match and eventually, drive the game. It’s pretty seamless.
“It’s very logical, it’s probably somewhat common sense. But as a leader group, we’re still the the custodians of the of the environment, even though we’re focused on performance.”
“I don’t think it’s too much of a challenge for her (Emily Scarratt at inside centre) because it suits her skill set. As an experienced athlete, 13s can also lose a bit of topping pace. So we’ve got some girls at 13 that are pretty quick, so that’s what we would prefer to have in that position. And then we obviously want to use Emily’s skillset at 12. We like distribution through 12. We want to get a bit more through those hands in that position, and she definitely has got that skill set.”
MARLIE PACKER: “I think they’ve been absolutely great, I think it’s about for them and for me it’s to make sure that they’re in the best possible place to come and to. Not to have to worry about driving the team around the pitch, but it’s actually about them being able to just put their own performance in.
“They’ve obviously been out for a long time, so it’s making sure that they come in seamlessly and actually enjoy it. Because you know, we know as a group, we’re enjoying what we’re doing not just on the pitch, but off the pitch, we get the best version of that player.
“Abby Ward’s come back in, great line-out leader, knows the information, her knowledge is world class. So actually making sure we’re tapping into that and using it, but they’ve all been fantastic.”
4. IMPROVED ITALY SET TO POSE A STRONGER SIX NATIONS FIGHT A YEAR ON
Last Autumn, Italy got a taste of winning with three consecutive triumphs in the inaugural WXV2 competition, and were narrowly edged out to the trophy by Scotland. Italy went unbeaten in the campaign with wins against South Africa, Japan and the United States, and have only been improved by the launch of their first two professional franchises.
The FIR (the Governing body of Italian rugby), launched women’s teams for their United Rugby Championship clubs Benetton Treviso and Zebre Parma, in what marked a progressive move for the future of Italian women’s rugby. Mitchell and Packer both praised the progress, and welcomed the challenge of a consistently improving Italian women’s side.
JOHN MITCHELL: “100 days ago, I think we sent a message in Auckland (WXV win against New Zealand) that we were focused on getting better. But we also know that the opposition are going to get better as well. And we want that, bring it on. The more that you get better, the better we’ll get. Because it means that we’re going to have to get challenged, we will be challenged and we have to respond to that. So now we’re looking forward to that. That’s awesome that that’s happening.”
MARLIE PACKER: “I just think keep growing the game over there, which would make their game better, which then when they come into the competition, at six nations they pose harder opposition for us, which then poses different questions, which will then make us better rugby players. And that’s what we want and to keep being pushed.”