George who led England throughout 2001 and 2002 is thrilled to be leading the team once again:

“I am honoured to be captaining England once again. I thoroughly enjoyed the role when I last did it and I am extremely excited to be named captain for the Canada match. We have a fantastic squad of girls now involved in the England set-up and I am really looking forward to playing alongside so many talented individuals. To be given the chance to do it as captain really is the icing on the cake.”

George, who plays for Wasps, will lead the team from inside centre. The rest of the team remains under wraps as Richards waits for the Canadians to show their hand before confirming his starting line-up. What he has confirmed is that Maggie Alphonsi will be the unlucky one of the 23 announced earlier this week to miss out. The confirmed squad of 22 for the first Canada match is as follows:

Jo Yapp	Karen Andrew	Susie Appleby
Charlotte Barras	Shannon Baker	Rochelle Clarke
Helen Clayton	Nicola Crawford	Sue Day
Amy Garnett	Paula George	Vanessa Gray
Claire Green	Vanessa Huxford	Vicky Massarella
Selena Rudge	Kim Shaylor	Catherine Spencer
Georgia Stevens	Jenny Sutton	Rachel Vickers
Danielle Waterman

The two games against Canada are to be played on the 14th November at Richmond RFC, kick-off 2.00pm and on the 17th November at Newbury RFC, kick-off 6.30pm.