This was a fascinating but curious affair.
Four candidates for each position were selected by the administrators, though they failed to allow for important distinctions: for example loose-head and tight head; blind-side and open-side. Players frequently swapped positions during the season. As postings followed one by one, we could be excused for being baffled in our choice-making.
Then how did we make our choice? Possibilities:
- Club loyalty – the bigger the club, the more votes?
- Familiarity – ‘who’s she?’
- How many games did she play?
- How many games did we see?
- What position did she play in? – Liz Crake holds the record, all three rows of the scrum
- ‘Saw her on the telly’
- Sticking a pin in
The candidates (winners in bold) Club
15 Abbie Brown; Ellie Kildunne; Emily Scott; Sarah McKenna LL WA Q SA
14 Jess Breach; Lisa Neumann; Paige Farries; Rhona Lloyd Q SS WW LL
13 Emily Scarratt; Hannah Jones; Jade Shekells; Lagi Tuima LL GH WW Q
12 Holly Aitchison; Kate Alder; Rachael Burford; Gabby Cantorna SA WA Q EC
11 Abby Dow; Ellie Underwood; Jasmine Joyce; Lotte Clapp WA GH BB SA
10 Helena Rowland; Katy Daley-Mclean; Megan Jones; Zoe Harrison LL SS WA SA
9 Caity Mattinson; Claudia Macdonald; Leanne Riley; Natasha Hunt WW WA Q GH
1 Maud Muir; Rochelle Clark; Shaunagh Brown; Simi Pam WA SA Q BB
2 Amy Cokayne; Cliodhna Moloney; Lark Davies; May Campbell Q WA LL SA
3 Sachiko Kato; Liz Crake; Detysha Harper; Vickii Cornborough EC WA LL Q
4 Abbie Ward; Abby Duguid; Poppy Leitch; Zoe Aldcroft Q EC LL GH
5 Fiona Fletcher; McKinley Hunt; Rowena Burnfield; Sophie de Goede Q EC WA SA
6 Alex Matthews; Georgia Evans; Rachel Malcolm; Sadia Kabeya WW SA LL WA
7 Claire Molloy; Emily Robinson; Kate Zackary; Marlie Packer WA EC EC SA
8 Harriet Millar-Mills; Linde van der Linden; Poppy Cleall; Sarah Hunter WA EC SA LL
This is a breakdown of the clubs represented:
Bristol Bears 2
DMP Durham Sharks 0
Exeter Chiefs 7
Gloucester-Hartpury 4
Harlequins 9
Loughborough Lightning 10
Sale Sharks 2
Saracens 10
Wasps 12
Worcester Warriors 4
and the nations:
Canada 4
Ireland 2
Japan 1
Netherlands 1
Scotland 2
USA 2
Wales 4
That leaves 44 English qualified.
and the percentages:
The percentages gained by each player are misleading. When Abbie Ward is pitted directly against Zoe Aldcroft, neither is going to get close to 100% support. Then the question is, why place then in the same quartet? Simon Middleton certainly wouldn’t. The eight locks might have been grouped differently.
One of the lock choices brought the tightest margin: 0.1% between Sophie de Goede and Fi Fletcher.
The Winning Team
15 Ellie Kildunne
14 Rhona Lloyd
13 Jade Shekells
12 Kate Alder
11 Abby Dow
10 Megan Jones
9 Natasha Hunt
1 Rochelle Clark
2 Amy Cokayne
3 Sachiko Kato
4 Abbie Ward
5 Sophie de Goede
6 Georgia Evans
7 Marlie Packer
8 Poppy Cleall
It’s delightful to see names included here that didn’t figure prominently on the internationl scene. That makes the operation all the more valuable.
Now it’s my job to pick a team to beat them by 20 points. Should be easy. But I’ll have a word with Simon Middleton MBE first, just to be sure.
