England should “get everyone started” across their 32-player Rugby World Cup squad in their opening two games, says the head coach, John Mitchell, who all but confirmed there will be a raft of changes to the Red Roses matchday XV to face Samoa next Saturday.
The news came after the Red Roses’ thumping win against the USA with Emma Sing and Sarah Bern among the players not to start a match and former captain Marlie Packer among those not yet involved in a matchday squad.
Those stars are now more than likely to start the game with Mitchell saying: “We have planned our teams for the early part of the tournament.
“Obviously the unpredicted niggles, we have to account for that but we will get everyone started by the end of next week which has been our plan. Hopefully we are able to execute that.”
England were forced to adapt this week with versatile back Helena Rowland rolling her ankle in the build-up. Mitchell had said earlier in the week she should be available for Samoa, along with the injured Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Holly Aitchison, but he gave a positive update on Rowland.
“I was with the girls this morning that were not selected and they trained very, very well,” Mitchell added. “The girls that played [on Friday] would have been really proud of them and Helena was in that training session. She got through that really well.”
There was more positive news for the England camp as captain Zoe Aldcroft confirmed she was okay after strapping her knee in the first half and being substituted in the second 40 against the USA.
The game was the perfect start for England in terms of the result but the performance was not completely up to standards. The USA captain Kate Zackary picked out some of the Red Roses weaknesses, saying: “They have done it for a lot longer than a lot of us, they have had a rugby ball in their hands longer. But what we can do is bring that physicality and when you saw us bringing intensity in defence you saw them make mistakes, you saw them kick away possession.
“You can’t keep anyone on a pedestal when you get to a World Cup, that is one of the most important takeaways here. We play these players individually at their clubs in the PWR and now we see them as a team who are collectively very good but they all have weaknesses, don’t they?”
