Four county women start versus France

FOUR Loughborough Lightning players are included in the England Women’s side to face France in the Quilter International at Exeter today.

Sarah Hunter will captain the side from No.8 and she is joined in the pack by hooker Lark Davies.

Lightning’s Katy Daley-McLean starts at fly-half as she wins her 108th cap, and Emily Scarratt features at outside centre.

The Desford star was recently named World Player of the Year having returned to 15-a-side rugby from the sevens stage.

Sapcote’s Vicky Fleetwood, who plays for Saracens, completes the local connection. She is among the replacements.

England beat France 20-10 in

Clermont-Ferrand last weekend and head coach Simon Middleton is looking to build on that.

He said: “We were delighted to secure our first win in France since 2012. The players put a real shift in and stuck to the plan.

“As we expected, last week’s game was incredibly competitive, while at the same time, it was clear to see that both sides hadn’t played competitively for a couple of months.

“However, I expect both teams to have shaken off some of the ring rust this week and the skill execution should be evident in the performances. Certainly from our point of view, we will be looking to improve on a couple of areas, the primary one being our handling.”