This is a quite fascinating preliminary squad that John Mitchell has announced.
(You can see the full group at 4theloveofsport.co.uk/2024/03/04/red-roses-squad-for-training-camp-announced/).
First the numbers and the balance: 18 forwards against 16 backs out of 34 players is an unusual ratio for England. We might have expected something more like 19/15. The balance of the list of contracted players was a decisive 19/13. Not even the absences (shown below) restore it. Any subsequent omissions may well depend on position, not form.
Next some welcome returns: Emily Scarratt, Abbie Ward, Poppy Cleall and Amy Cokayne in particular, but less obvious recalls include Sydney Gregson and Liz Crake. Their careers have followed very different paths. Gregson, already an England 7s player almost a decade ago won three caps in the 2015 Six Nations series, but interruptions such as more 7s calls, a stay in Australia and another infamous ACL mean this is a merited return after nine years. She has stood out even in Sarries’ sparkling back line.
Crake, very much the professional away from the game, had the unwelcome experience of leading a disintegrating Wasps club through a winless season. You could admire her mental strength and leadership skills as much as her playing ability when she was called up by Simon Middleton in 2023.
New Faces revue
It’s always a pleasure to see new names included: they are Brooke Bradley, Katie Buchanan, Vicky Laflin, Lizzie Hanlon, Sharifa Kasolo, Hollie Cunningham and Lilli Ives-Campion. Not all of them are in their first youth, so will be delighted with a first call-up. Two of them, Bradley and Laflin, had to endure the torments of Worcester Warriors’ demise – like many others – so deserve an extra round of applause. Cunningham, like Gregson, experienced a long lay-off; her hard work at Bristol is paying off.
Forget-me-nots
It is so easy for selectors to call players up then, as it were, overlook them. For the most part England have managed to avoid that. Especially in the case of players near the start of their international careers, it can prove a severe setback to their well-being if they are ‘in’ one moment and ‘out’ the next. Two such are Sophie Bridger and Kelsey Clifford.
All in all, these choices are visible proof of how keen-eyed selectors notice good performances in the PWR. Effort is rewarded, and so many players have been impressing over recent rounds.
Absence notes
They concern Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears), Nancy McGillivray (Exeter Chiefs) – both long-term – Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury), Lizzie Duffy (Sale Sharks), Claudia MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs), Cath O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning), Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks) – shorter term, we hope. Once again we must regret the loss of admired figures from the fray.
Others to miss out are Amber Reed and El Perry. We don’t yet know whether Vickii Cornborough intends returning to action. Her absence, along with Perry’s, helps to explain Crake’s retention.
Other regulars are shorter-term absences; we don’t know at present how long they will remain unavailable: they include Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury), Rosie Galligan (Saracens), Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury), Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury) and Ella Wyrwas (Saracens).
It is strange how frustration for a player can ease a selector’s dilemma. At the same moment as Scaz makes her long-awaited return, another centre, Tatyana Heard, falls by the wayside. It’s a similar case with Wyrwas and Bradley. But that still leaves the management with giant-sized problems of choice, especially in the backs.
Even without Macdonald and Heard, they still have to decide between full-backs, Kildunne and Sing; centres, Scarratt, Bridger, Gregson and Jones; wingers, Breach, Dow, Buchanan and Laflin; plus the versatile and outstandingly talented trio, Aitchison, Harrison and Rowland, who could all grace the 10 shirt or play in the centre (Rowland at 15 too). And when the injured parties return, the decision-making grows even harder.
Who’d be a selector? John Mitchell reckoned he’d like the chance.
The squad now undergoes a week of intense training; the final decisions will be proclaimed on 11 March. Memo: the captain is sitting on 99 caps.
Next stop, Parma, 24 March.
