3. THE OTHER UNCAPPED TALENTS – LIZZIE HANLON & VICKY LAFLIN
Mitchell discussed the talented prop Lizzie Hanlon and wing Vicky Laflin, who he has called up to the squad in line for a potential England debut. Mitchell discussed how he enjoyed making the phone call to share the good news with the selected players, but also discussed how he had to let a player go who failed to recover from an injury.
JOHN MITCHELL: “Lizzie’s in, as Sarah Bern is out. So now Maud (Muir) and Kelsey (Clifford), they have the opportunity to really make that position for themselves. So Lizzie, we’ve invested in Lizzie because we think she’s extremely athletic for a tight-head. She comes from a diving and gymnast background. So she’s quite flexible as well. So I think that the amount that she’s grown in two camps, I think, a longer period of time with us, we’re going to see it and get a good return.
“And they would like to think that, you know, by the time we get to WXV. Maud, Kelsey and Lizzie are looking at Sarah going ‘you’re chasing us now’. So that’d be the nice equation. But that’s basically what I’d like to create. So that’s Lizzie’s opportunity to seize.”
“Vicky’s been really consistent in PWR. She’s got one of those really nice swerving runs. I think we can add a kicking game to her, but I also think she can become world class in winning the ball in the air. So she’s had one camp with us. And her elation today was phenomenal. You get that nice phone call, where you get to say ‘congratulations, you made the Six Nations squad, just want to give you time to process it before it gets announced, with family and friends.'”
“Then on the other corner, I’ve had to ring Katie Buchanan (Exeter Chiefs wing) who missed out because of a syndesmosis injury, that which hopefully we’ll see later on in the tournament. So, she’s missed out. So I’ve had to give that news. So that you get the good phone call, and you get the difficult phone call. So Vicky’s got the opportunity to seize that now.”
4. ICONIC RED ROSES RETURN BUT NOT AN ISSUE FOR THE LEADERSHIP GROUP
England have had a bolstering of Red Roses legends to their squad, as Emily Scarratt, Abby Ward and Zoe Harrison have all been named in the 35-player group. The trio of icons have not featured for England since the 2022 Rugby World Cup Final defeat to New Zealand, and Mitchell is excited to see the players back in the fray.
Mitchell discussed how despite the commanding leadership positions the three players hold, there will be no issues in bringing them in to support Marlie Packer’s role as captain.
“Yeah, those girls have been clearly communicated with, to focus on the performance first. My experiences has always informed me that if you allow them to focus and get their performance right first, then they’ll naturally lead anyway. To have, to be a leadership group or to have those sort of titles, they’re not really relevant to those girls at this present time.
“So we’ll continue with our same leadership group and Abby, Emily and Zoe Harrison they can all just get on and focused on their performance and lead naturally through their personality and the roles that they play.”