For Rochelle Clark the landmarks just keep on coming. On Sunday she becomes England’s most capped player of all time, having tied Jason Leonard’s record last week, but it is the prospect of achieving what the “Fun Bus” could not – lifting the World Cup on two separate occasions – that keeps the fire burning as fiercely as ever.
Last Wednesday, in a scrappy 10-5 victory over France, Clark came off the bench to pull level with Leonard, who lost his first World Cup final in 1991 before succeeding in 2003, and against Ireland she will join Scotland’s Donna Kennedy, currently the record holder in the women’s game, on 115 appearances, having been named in the starting XV.
Aged 35, Clark will finally turn professional in January as part of the first 29 English 15-a-side players to do so, proof that following the return of the sevens Olympians who failed to win a medal in Rio, successfully retaining the World Cup title from 2014 next year is the priority.
“There will definitely be more, there’s no doubt about that, she’s got no intention of retiring,” says England women’s head coach, Simon Middleton. “She’s amazing, isn’t she? She’s an absolute credit to the sport, a credit to herself, an inspiration to everybody who plays with her and she’s at that stage where she’s still looking to improve her game. She works so hard because she wouldn’t be here if she didn’t. Her appetite for the game is just amazing. She’s invaluable, she’s a rock for us.” Middleton has made five changes in total – Emily Scott gets the nod at fly-half, La Toya Mason at scrum-half with Vicky Fleetwood and Harriet Millar-Mills coming into the pack – as England seek to prepare for the intensity of next year’s World Cup with four autumn fixtures in quick succession.
“We’ve come into the competition knowing that it’s constructed like a World Cup campaign would be,” said Middleton, whose side host New Zealand on Saturday and finish their autumn campaign against Canada at Twickenham a week later. “We’ve talked about that, we’ve talked about the discipline, our recovery, review the processes and look to build on what we’ve done. It’s got a World Cup feel to it, very much treating it as a dress rehearsal for that.
“The environment [in Dublin] will be a challenge, it’ll be absolutely packed. That will be a great learning curve. These games are incredibly important to us from a results point of view and a performance point of view but we also need to see our potential World Cup players playing in high pressure games, which these are, and I’m really confident we’ve got some great players in this squad.”
August’s World Cup came into sharper focus following Wednesday’s draw that pits them against the USA, Italy and a European qualifier – Scotland or Spain – in the pool stages and while the 10-5 victory over France was a scrappy one, the reintegration of those sevens players will unquestionably bolster Middleton’s side.
“It’s brilliant having all the girls back, it feels like we’re building, it feels like home with the sevens girls back,” says loosehead Clark. “It’s about us working together and finding our stride and I think every game we’re going to get stronger. We’ve got a tough win against France under our belts and we’ll move on from there.”
The last four matches against Ireland have been decided by seven points or fewer, and England were edged out on their last visit during the 2015 Six Nations. Indeed, Ireland have captured the Six Nations twice since England won the last of their seven consecutive titles in 2012, but Tom Tierney is without a number of experienced players due to injury, most notably his captain, Niamh Briggs.
England squad to face Ireland: D Waterman; K Wilson, C Allan, R Burford, F Pocock; E Scott, LT Mason; R Clark, V Fleetwood, L Keates, T Taylor, H Millar-Mills, A Matthews, M Packer, S Hunter (capt).
Replacements: A Cokayne, V Cornborough, S Bern, P Cleall, I Noel-Smith, N Hunt, K McLean, C Large.
