Key events
First-half kick off
Here we go.
Galligan ruled out for England
Morwenna Talling starts for England. Rosie Galligan has pulled out during the warmup. Lizzie Hanlon comes into the England squad as a result.
The teams are out. Five minutes until kick-off. Time for the anthems … and perhaps time to have a read of Sarah Rendell’s preview with the England second row, Zoe Aldcroft.
“We had an unbelievable scrum against Wales and that allowed us in the backs to do our thing in a bit of space,” Ireland’s Dannah O’Brien told the official Women’s Six Nations website this week. “While the penalties that the forwards earned also allowed us to gain good field position and stay on the front foot …
“It’s going to be really exciting, I don’t think many players in our team will have ever experienced a crowd like what will be at Twickenham before so we just have to embrace it.”
Scott Bemand, the Ireland head coach [and previous England attack coach] has a chat with Sonja McLaughlan of the BBC: “England know how to do this kind of occasion … nearly 50,000 people out there – this is great for our team to experience this. We don’t want to be bystanders in it – we want to put our own game out there.
“I’m really proud as an Englishman that we can bring Ireland here and show it [Twickenham] off at its best.
“You want to test yourself against the best in the world. It’s a fantastic opportunity.”
Sam Monaghan, who misses out today, is not injured but apparently has been left out in one of those two changes to Ireland’s side: “Sam’s a big player for us … her leadership is fantastic,” says Bemand. “She had a bit of time out before coming to the Six Nations … it was a really tough call, but her ‘markers’ didn’t quite get over the line for this one.”
“Really useful to be back here [at Twickenham] again,” John Mitchell, the England head coach, tells the BBC. “It’s our big ‘why’ in what drives us.”
“In terms of performance, the girls are starting to free up, to trust who they’re with … and that’s the most pleasing thing.”
Gabby Logan asks about England’s discipline issue: “We’re definitely aware of their behaviour,” Mitchell says. “We’re trying to make the girls responsible … but we do need to play on the edge … we like to dominate the collision … and we’re encouraging that.
“The game is going to be unfair at times … you’ve just got to deal with it.” [I think he means refereeing there, but I am not entirely sure.]
Then, Logan asks about England’s indifferent goal kicking: “We do have weaknesses. We’re aware of that … we’re not trying to bite off everything at once.
“At some point in time, when we get put into an arm wrestle – and hopefully we do today because we’ll learn from it … we might have to win it through kicking. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.”
Ireland overpowered Wales 36-5 in Cork last week, scoring five tries. Aoife Wafer, the blindside flanker, was player of the match. They’ll be coming in with plenty of confidence.
Sarah Rendell spoke to the England second row, Zoe Aldcroft, who is relishing the chance to play in front of another big crowd at “HQ”, as some of the more irritating English rugby fans call it.
Handily enough, the Ireland team arrived in plenty of time for kick-off too:
As have the fans:
A healthy crowd was on hand outside Twickenham to welcome the Red Roses.
The last time England lost a Women’s Six Nations match was in France, on 10 March 2018: an 18-17 loss against in Grenoble. As stated it’s 27 straight wins in this competition now, and today would make it 28.
Team news
Two changes for England: Marlie Packer, who began on the bench in last weekend’s win in Scotland, returns to the starting XV at No 7. Lark Atkin-Davies is back at hooker for the suspended Amy Cokayne who was sent off in the victory north of the border.
Hannah O’Connor starts in Ireland’s second row, replacing Sam Monaghan, while Aoife Dalton is selected at No 12, in place of Enya Breen.
England: 15 Kildunne, 14 Dow, 13 Jones, 12 Heard, 11 Breach, 10 Aitchison, 9 Hunt; 1 Botterman, 2 Atkin-Davies, 3 Muir, 4 Galligan, 5 Aldcroft, 6 Kabeya, 7 Packer, 8 Matthews Replacements: 16 Powell, 17 Carson, 18 Clifford, 19 Talling, 20 Feaunati, 21 Packer, 22 Scarratt, 23 Gregson
Ireland: 15 Delany; 14 Corrigan, 13 Higgins, 12 Dalton, 11 Parsons, 10 O’Brien, 9 Reilly; 1 Linda Djougang, 2 Jones, 3 Haney, 4 Wall, 5 O’Connor, 6 Wafer, 7 McMahon (c), 8 Hogan. Replacements: 16 Moloney, 17 O’Dowd, 18 McGrath, 19 Tuite, 20 Ikahihifo, 21 Scuffil-McCabe, 22 Breen, 23 Deely.
Preamble
The Red Roses continue to bloom. England are three from three in the Women’s Six Nations and victory against Ireland today will potentially set up a grand-slam decider against France next week – provided Les Bleues defeat Wales tomorrow.
More worryingly from an Irish point of view, they have not beaten England since 2015, and not even mustered a single point against them since 2019. Around 50,000 supporters will be inside Twickenham this afternoon, the majority of them hoping for England’s 28th consecutive ‘W’ in this tournament.
The powerful home pack has lately been complimented by an increasingly expansive attack so if England’s set-piece functions well, this is realistically a question of how many points England will score. Ireland will no doubt have something to say about that – but can they defend well enough to give John Mitchell’s team a scare?
Kick-off: 2.15pm BST
