‘Six Nations opener in France will be an awesome occasion’
SCARRATT SAYS PLAYING WITH LOUGHBOROUGH TEAM-MATES WILL BENEFIT ENGLAND
THE Women’s Six Nations is a little over a week away for Emily Scarratt and her England team-mates, who take on France in the opening round at Pau’s Stade du Hameau on February 2, writes Tom Sansom.
Scarratt’s side were successful in completing a Grand Slam last year, with Loughborough Lightning providing seven players for last year’s squad, which was certainly beneficial in the view of centre Scarratt.
“You work on those partnerships,” she said. “At Loughborough we’ve got Sarah Hunter who’s the No.8, Lark Davies who’s the hooker, Cath O’Donnell who’s the line-out jumper, Katy Daley-Mclean who’s the 10, and me as the centre.
“You’ve kind of got that spine in the England team, as we’ve constantly got to work together, so there’s a lot that we can do.
“Sometimes Katy and I will look at each other and we will probably know what we’re thinking.
“You don’t have to have a big conversation about it, because you know how each other play at that point.
“When we go into the national side, we might be running different moves or patterns but with fundamentally the same players, which is definitely really helpful.”
Looking forward to the 2020 Six Nations campaign, Scarratt is fixated with the opener against France, which is sizing up to be the game of the tournament.
“It’s going to be massive, first game of the Six Nations, away in France,” she said.
“Awesome occasions, we were there a couple of months ago, France away trips are always amazing.
“We get a massive crowd, it’s energetic, it’s loud, it’s partisan, it’s amazing!
“It’s going to be a phenomenal kick-off to our tournament, and we are going to have to be right up for it.
“Naturally with the rankings, we are both right up there.
“We’ve played them a lot recently, always tough games, and as I say, away to France is always an amazing fixture. It will start our Six Nations off really well, and hopefully we can come out on the right side of it.”
GRAND SLAM: Emily Scarratt holding the Six Nations trophy last year