Packer takes charge as new-look team emerge
THE headline dominating all the news last weekend was England’s stalwart captain Sarah Hunter retiring with 141 caps after facing Scotland in the opening round of the Women’s Six Nations.
It seemed fitting that her swansong for her last hurrah was in front of a passionate home crowd – right where it all began, in Newcastle.
The sell-out crowd at Kingston Park was filled with friends, family and fans, who were all in fine voice, and gave Hunter the send off she deserved as England’s most capped player.
And as one chapter on women’s rugby closes, a new one begins. We now enter the Marlie Packer era. She’d already been co-captain, but today she’s got the full captaincy duties for England’s match against Italy.
The Saracens flanker led by example in the one-way traffic that hit Scotland with a hat-trick of tries. Her co-captaincy duties were accompanied by a player of the match performance as she helped England secure a 58-7 victory against Scotland.
This was arguably England’s weakest team as they had a number of experienced players out with injury, stars such as Emily Scarratt, Zoe Harrison and Hannah Botterman to name just a few.
Three of the four props were uncapped with a total of seven new caps in the squad, but this didn’t seem to faze the current Six Nations champions as the strength and depth shown in the English Premiership is astonishing.
In the wake of the news that long-standing head coach Simon Middleton is leaving his role after the campaign it feels like a newlook England team is emerging.
However the style of play doesn’t seem to be changing as England’s familiar game plan emerged after they scored a number of tries from the Red Roses’ dominant maul.
Scotland were under the pump from set-piece and lacked composure to finish off opportunities when it counted. England’s forward carrying dominance to punch it up then play, was echoed throughout the game as Scotland struggled to compete with the fast-paced tempo and breakdown effectiveness that England pose. England weren’t without error though, and at times looked a little rusty, and lacked pass execution as much as they would have liked.
The ten-try route wasn’t quite one way, as Scotland’s attack showed promise after enlisting attack coach Chris Laidlaw as they bookended both halves with a flurry of pressure. Scotland’s endeavour to recycle quickly and have multiple threats was encouraging for the Thistles as they built towards yesterday’s game against Wales, who could be argued are going for third place in this year’s Six Nations after a resurgence.
Scotland’s inability to capitalise on early pressure against England meant they had to wait until late in the second half to see a dazzler of a try by flyer Chloe Rollie. An area Scotland really need to focus on in training is their set piece as they were dominated by the Red Roses and their remaining opponents won’t be a walk in the park either.
Even though Scotland have been professional a few months, the result against England shows the huge gap between the two home nations even with England’s vast injury list.
Italy put up a great fight against France last weekend and will pose England some problems. It finished 22-12 and while France were always the favourites, with them you never know what team you will face. One minute they can beat anyone in the world, and the next, they let the opposition in the game and end up in a tight battle and sometimes even losing.
France sealed a lacklustre victory with a try from Caroline Boujard in the final part of the game but it is worth noting the performance of Italian second row Giordano Duca, right, who with 19 tackles to her name against the
French, made a huge difference to the squad. The learnings from this are how much better Italy are having the support from the union to help make them be the best they can be.
France saw off Ireland yesterday but they will need to build through the tournament as they will have their eyes on beating England in the last Six Nations game to possibly win the tournament.
Wales were the shock scoreline of the first weekend with a 31-5 victory over Ireland.
The Welsh have enjoyed over a year of professional contracts whilst Ireland, who are in their infancy, are rebuilding after a turbulent few years.
Ireland were on the backfoot early on as
Wales asserted their dominance from the forwards with big front foot ball carries and dominant scrums. The Welsh team’s first half was that of a fairytale as they ran in four ties early on. The second half only resulted in a try a piece as Ireland grew into the game, but it was a little too late, and Wales took the well-deserved win. Wales’ standout player was 19-year-old tighthead prop Sisilia Tuipulotu, who caused devastation to the Irish defence every time she carried the ball. The powerhouse crashed over to secure her team’s second try of the game and was named player of the match. She’s a name you will hear again in the future as this bright young star is building her international experience with three caps under her belt at the World Cup.
For the first time ever, every team in the tournament is professional but it will be quite a while before all the games are closely contested. But for now, we can savour the moments in the women’s expanding game.
“As England’s most capped player, Sarah Hunter got the send off she rightly deserved”