England are taking nothing for granted as they prepare for their first home match of their Women’s Six Nations campaign.
Simon Middleton has named a strong XV to face Wales at The Stoop, making just two personnel changes from the side that eased to a 42-7 win away to Italy last Sunday to lay down a marker for the rest of the tournament. Charlotte Pearce makes her first England start on the after coming off the bench last weekend as Danielle Waterman shifts to full-back and Ellie Kildunne moves in to outside-centre, while up front Amy Cokayne comes in to start at hooker.
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England’s hardest fixture of the tournament is already shaping up to be their trip to France in the penultimate round but they are favourites to defend their title and are expected to beat a transitional Wales side, having won 63-0 in Cardiff last year.
But Middleton has acknowledged the threat pose by Wales following their narrow one-point win over Scotland to bring up the curtain on this year’s competition. “We are expecting a physical encounter against Wales,” said Middleton. “They play an aggressive brand of defence so there will be a lot of pressure on us when we have the ball.
“They also have a strong and well organised set piece, which we saw last week when they played Scotland, this will be a key area of the game. We have kept a good balance of consistency in selection in the forwards while still exploring different combinations out in the backs.”
Pearce had been due to make her debut during England’s autumn campaign but a broken finger delayed her first cap until last weekend. “It was a really new, scary but amazing experience as it’s a massive responsibility but at the same time I was obviously incredibly honoured,” she said.
“Everyone is fighting for the shirt and the fact that I got onto the bench I was so over the moon with that. It was overwhelming but it was a good kind of overwhelming as I just felt happy to be there to experience all of that and I was so excited for the opportunity.”