As we creep ever closer to opening time, English voices grow more concerned. I’ve asked before: what can possibly go wrong? One curt answer is, the opposition proving better on the day. But the Red Roses have all the advantages: the top-ranked side for ages, one loss in the last 59 matches, unparalleled strength across
University of Bath graduate Natasha Hunt is aiming to win a second Women’s Rugby World Cup title with England – and this time on home soil. The 2025 tournament kicks off on Friday with the host nation taking on the United States at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, live on BBC1 (7.30pm). Hunt will win her
This is the squad John Mitchell has selected to play the USA Eagles on Friday evening: 15 KILDUNNE 14 DOW 13 JONES 12 HEARD 11 BREACH 10 HARRISON 9 HUNT 1 BOTTERNAN 2 COKAYNE 3 MUIR 4 TALLING 5 WARD 6 ALDCROFT (captain) 7 KABEYA 8 MATTHEWS 16 ATKIN-DAVIES 17 CLIFFORD 18 BERN 19 GALLIGAN
Team Bath Netball’s Alanna Pullen and University of Bath sporting scholar Sophie Kelly have been named in the England U21 squad for the 2025 Netball World Youth Cup, taking place in Gibraltar from 19-28 September. Trendell Sporting Scholar Jayda Pechova is a non-travelling reserve for the tournament, which features the top 20 teams in the
The Red Roses achieved their sixteenth consecutive win over France in a strangely shaped match in Mont-de-Marsan. For once les Bleues failed to score a single try. They depended on Morgane Bourgeois’ boot for their points. More striking was England’s reversion to type: the style that caused so much dissension up to the last RWC
John Mitchell wasn’t likely to send out his No 1 choice side against France, even though this is the final call. He has made eleven changes to last week’s side. It looks like this: 15 KILDUNNE 14 DOW 13 JONES 12 HEARD 11 BREACH 10 HARRISON 9 HUNT 1 BOTTERMAN 2 COKAYNE 3 MUIR 4
Most Red Rose fans have firm ideas about their preferences for the big games to come. Let’s look at the dilemmas facing the selectors. The France game next weekend will be infinitely tougher than the show at Leicester. There a few lionesses were slaughtered as surely as the wretched bull in a Spanish bull-ring. After
Spain had two targets in mind as they stepped out to face the Red Roses in Leicester: to put points on them and to leave the field with their heads held high. They achieved both, enough to renew calls for better treatment from the 6 Nations board. The trouble is, England put fifteen tries on
I don’t enjoy being proved right At least it’s only once, not twice. In my review of the Red Roses World Cup squad I queried the lack of props, five not six. That has not yet proved a major blow. But now that Claudia Moloney-Macdonald has a minor leg niggle, it exposes the lack of options
John Mitchell has done the decent thing by picking a formidable starting XV, but far from his first choice. The Team (15-1) SING ROWLAND JONES SHEKELLS BREACH HARRISON L. PACKER FEAUNATI M. PACKER BURTON IVES CAMPION WARD BERN ATKIN-DAVIES K. CLIFFORD Bench: CAMPBELL BOTTERMAN MUIR ALDCROFT KABEYA HUNT HEARD DOW Not for the first time,
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