March 18th, 2008
The England Women’s Under 20s team for next week’s return international fixture against Wales has today (Tuesday) been announced.
The young guns take on Wales at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire on Wednesday March 26th, kick-off 2pm and the team will be looking to build on their 31-0 defeat of their Welsh counterparts in February.
Head Coach Giselle Mather has named Worcester duo Laura Keates and Sarah Guest as co-captains. They will lead a team which has seen three players, including scrum-half Guest, play international rugby for England A this season as well as the Under 20s. Richmond lock Rowena Burnfield got a start for England A against Spain and Lichfield full back Emily Scarratt and Guest took on the Nomads last weekend.
England Head Coach Mather said: “We had a convincing win last time out against Wales, but it was not a convincing performance. From that win, we have learned that we need to have more continuity to our game and look after the ball more to allow the talent we have to play in the broken field areas. We certainly did some very good things, but the score line did flatter us a little and we have got work to do to improve.
“I am certainly expecting Wales to step up too and that is the great thing about having back to back internationals. The players from both teams will have learnt a lot from each other already and now they have the chance to put it into action again.
“For Emily, Sarah and Rowena it was great to see them get their chance with England A. Our job at Under 20s level is to prepare the players for the next level and all three of the players did tremendously well when they got their chance.”
The Wales fixture will be England’s final match before the 2008 Inaugural Under 20s Nations Cup which takes place in Toronto, Canada from July 10 to the 20th. There they will play Wales, Canada and the USA.
England Under 20s
1 Laura Keates Worcester C
2 Davinia Monteiro Wasps
3 Elizabeth Peak Cheltenham
4 Rowena Burnfield Richmond
5 Charlotte Wild Buxton RFC
6 Isabelle Noel-Smith Bath
7 Marlie Packer Bath
8 Louise Leonard Blaydon
9 Rachel Fraser Morpeth
10 Claire Garner Doncaster
11 Georgina Crabb Richmond
12 Sarah McKenna Old Albianian Saints
13 Rose Fong Darlington Mowden Park Sharks
14 Natasha Hunt Bath
15 Emily Scarratt Lichfield
Replacements:
16 Charlotte Male Ivel Barbarians
17 Vicky Fleetwood Lichfield
18 Juliet Short Darlington Mowden Park Sharks
19 Nicola Hoole Bath
20 Sarah Guest Worcester C
21 April Brown Saracens
22 Samantha Bree Worcester
Head Coach Giselle Mather, Assistant Coach Martin Hynes
Ends…
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