Red Roses put hopes in Poppy for France
ENGLAND’S Red Roses will be without star flanker Marlie Packer for their clash with France in the women’s Six Nations tomorrow.
Packer picked up a shoulder injury in the opening-weekend romp in Ireland and will miss out against the defending champions in Doncaster.
She is replaced by Bristol’s Poppy Leitch, who is not one of England’s full-time professionals or a member of the wider 35-strong elite player squad.
“We have no misconception of the size of the challenge,” said coach Simon Middleton. “We were pleased with our performance against Ireland but we now have to improve to get a winning outcome. Given their recent form and the fact France come into the tournament as champions, they rightly go into the game favourites.”
England have opted for the experience of Vickii Cornborough, right, and Abbie Scott up front to try to combat a powerful French pack.
Last season France came out on top 18-17 in Grenoble through Jessy Tremouliere’s late try in front of a world-record 17,440 crowd for a women’s international.
France thumped Wales by a record 52-3 scoreline last week – although the visitors were not helped by having to travel on the day of the game after their flight was cancelled. France have named an unchanged team, overlooking their sevens players who are available again after playing in the World Series.
Wales face Italy in Lecce tonight attempting to restore some face after last week’s drubbing.
“While the match against France was very difficult all round, we have confidence in the abilities of these players to bounce back and show what they can do,” said Wales coach Rowland Phillips. “Physicality will again be key against Italy. They showed how much they’ve progressed in their impressive win over Scotland last weekend.”