June 8th, 2006

England Women’s Rugby World Cup hopefuls will be lending their support to the 2006 Twickenham Festival, which kicks off this Saturday for eight days.

England and Richmond’s successful second-row pairing of Jenny Sutton and Rachel Vickers will join their country teammates Emma Layland, also of Richmond RFC, and Henley’s Michaela Staniford as well as England’s head coach Geoff Richard’s to celebrate the opening of this year’s popular event on Twickenham Green at 2pm on Saturday June 10th.

Their appearances will come as a welcome break for the quartet before, if selected, they join their England teammates for a three week Rugby World Cup training camp ahead of the sport’s premier tournament which takes place in Edmonton, Canada in August and September for which England’s Six Nations winners are ranked second.

The family orientated festival, which was initially set-up to encourage more people to visit Twickenham and raise Twickenham’s profile, will again provide a variety of attractions.

For England’s women rugby players they will be running a school-based competition for the youngsters to enjoy and participate in. There will also be several England rugby and Rugby World Cup prizes and giveaways.

For more information on England Women’s Rugby World Cup bid this summer visit rfu.com/women’s rugby.

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