| Venue: Kingston Park, Newcastle Date: Saturday, 25 March Kick-off: 16:45 GMT |
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Former Canada prop Mackenzie Carson will make her England debut towards Scotland within the Girls’s Six Nations on Saturday.
The 24-year-old qualifies for England via her mom and switched international locations via World Rugby’s birth-right switch guidelines.
Sarah Hunter will co-captain England in her remaining match earlier than retirement at Newcastle’s sold-out Kingston Park.
Holly Aitchison will begin at fly-half, with Zoe Harrison out injured.
Aitchison takes the ten shirt after Harrison tore her ACL in a season-ending harm and with Helena Rowland nonetheless recovering from a foot harm sustained on the 2022 World Cup.
Carson beforehand performed towards England in 2018 in one in all three Canada caps she earned. She is eligible to affix the Pink Roses – who’re chasing a fifth successive Girls’s Six Nations title – after spending a minimum of three years away from worldwide rugby.
Carson fills a niche within the entrance row left as a result of Vickii Cornborough is lacking the match for private causes and Hannah Botterman is injured.
England head coach Simon Middleton informed BBC Sport his aspect is “all the way down to the naked bones” at prop, however added “they’re superb bones”.
Middleton mentioned of Carson: “I have been massively impressed along with her. She will carry, she will defend – a fantastically skilful all-round rugby footballer. I feel she’ll slot in no downside.”
Middleton experiments after World Cup heartbreak
Head coach Simon Middleton – who will step down after the Girls’s Six Nations – has introduced in some recent faces after his aspect narrowly misplaced the World Cup remaining to New Zealand.
Middleton’s experimentation is maybe a mirrored image of the anticipated scoreline. Lengthy-term professionals England beat Scotland, who acquired contracts final yr, 57-5 within the 2022 Girls’s Six Nations.
Aitchison is joined within the midfield by two gamers who didn’t make the World Cup squad. Amber Reed will begin at 12 and Lagi Tuima at 13.
Uncapped scrum-half Ella Wyrwas awaits her debut from the bench as Lucy Packer begins, with the extra skilled Leanne Infante neglected and Natasha Hunt unable to make her England return due to a calf harm.
Lock Rosie Galligan will miss the match with a hamstring harm and Poppy Cleall begins within the second row, with Abbie Ward additionally absent after saying her being pregnant.
Sadia Kabeya and co-captain Marlie Packer are alongside Hunter within the again row, whereas Abby Dow, Jess Breach and Claudia MacDonald make up the again three. Twice-capped Emma Sing will present back-three cowl on the bench.
Additionally among the many replacements, loose-head prop Liz Crake and tight-head Kelsey Clifford await their first caps.
Middleton described Galligan’s harm as “a major blow” and mentioned it was “vastly disappointing” that Hunt was not obtainable this week, however added that she would return “later within the match”.
“It is a very new squad and so they have been requested to coach laborious and be taught quick during the last three weeks,” Middleton continued.
“This week we have actually been in a position to see the cohesion beginning to develop and we will not look forward to the staff to get on the market on Saturday.”
England staff to face Scotland
England: Dow; Breach, Tuima, Reed, MacDonald; Aitchison, Packer; Carson, Cokayne, Bern, Aldcroft, P Cleall, Kabeya, Packer (co-capt), Hunter (co-capt).
Replacements: Davies, Crake, Clifford, O’Donnell, Beckett, Wyrwas, Heard, Sing.
