Women’s Six Nations: England’s captain Marlie Packer set to receive her 100th cap against Italy | Rugby Union News

Red Roses captain Marlie Packer says she is not focused on reaching the 100 cap milestone ahead of England’s opening Women’s Six Nations match against Italy on Sunday.

Packer, who is in line to become a Test centurion in the game, made her England debut in 2008 and has played for her country for 16 years. She has represented Bath, Wasps and Bristol before her move to current club Saracens in 2017.

England are looking to achieve a sixth Six Nations title in a row, and third Grand Slam in succession.

“I try not to think about receiving my 100th cap too much. I just want to get out there and play now,” Packer said speaking to Sky Sports.

“Whenever you get the opportunity to put on this shirt, you want to make it a very special one and make sure you leave it in the best possible place.

“That’s the way I see it, I want to start the tournament and it doesn’t matter where I get my 100th cap.”

This will be John Mitchell’s first Six Nations in charge of the Red Roses after Simon Middleton concluded his eight-year reign last year.

New Zealander Mitchell served as defence coach for the men’s team under Eddie Jones between 2018 and 2021.

Uncapped Exeter Chiefs duo Maddie Feaunati and Lizzie Hanlon have been called up as Zoe Harrison, Emily Scarratt and Abbie Ward all return. It’s the first time the trio will feature in a Red Roses tournament squad since the 2022 Rugby World Cup final.

The squad is made up of 19 forwards and 16 backs, with a combined total of 1,109 Test caps.

“Going into the WXV tournament we changed the way we wanted to play and I think you’ll get to see a little bit more sparkle from the Red Roses this Six Nations,” Packer said.

“Mitchell made us think about what we’re doing, made us see things differently and just posed questions that we haven’t quite had before.

“We’re going to bring tempo but then also control the tempo. The way we played was a lot off the nine and that might look a little bit different.

“It’s just going to be a lot more exciting I think. I don’t think we’re going to see much boot to ball from England that we might have done previously.

Tighthead prop Sarah Bern and scrum-half Claudia MacDonald are two of England’s biggest names but will miss the entirety of the competition through injury.

Malcolm: Scotland’s squad ‘strongest’ I’ve been part of

Scotland won two games in last year’s Six Nations to finish in fourth place. Their captain Rachel Malcolm hopes the team will be able to perform more consistently throughout this year’s tournament.

“We’ve got a pretty exciting squad, it’s a mixture of young talent and experienced old players like myself so we’re in a really good place,” Malcolm said.

“If I contrast it to last year, we were probably not in a brilliant place. It was not our best performance whereas now I think we’ve had probably one of our best years in a very long time and won our first trophy in 21 years.

“We’ve also got six wins in a row so I think we’re going out with a little bit of momentum and we’ve probably got the strongest squad that I’ve seen in my time as part of the Scotland squad.

“We just want to go out and perform to the best of our ability and our potential.”

Head coach Bryan Easson named seven uncapped players in Scotland women’s training squad for the Six Nations last month.

Jones: Wales confident after finishing in top three last year

Wales finished in third place last year, beating Ireland, Scotland and Italy.

“If we look back on last year, we made it to the top three and obviously it gives you a bit of confidence so now we’re just focusing on the process and hard work ahead and hopefully the results follow,” said Wales captain Hannah Jones.

“We’re taking each game as it comes and building that momentum. We’re very ambitious and want to win every game.

“That top three place we know as players is important with World Cup qualification and the WXV tournament you want to play top flight of rugby so we’re definitely working hard to get near that.

“Scotland are always a physical battle. They’re always fun to play against. We’re looking forward to that and the Cardiff fans in a home game.

“England have got a strong pack and a great backline, we play with the players week in week out in the Premiership.

“It will be challenging going from club into international duties but we’re looking forward to play against them in a Welsh jersey.”

Red Roses’ 2024 Women’s Six Nations Squad

Forwards (19)

• Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury, 48 caps)
• Lark Atkin-Davies (Bristol Bears, 54 caps)
• Sarah Beckett (Gloucester-Hartpury, 34 caps)
• Hannah Botterman (Bristol Bears, 42 caps)
• Mackenzie Carson (Gloucester-Hartpury, 10 caps)
• Poppy Cleall (Saracens, 65 caps)
• Kelsey Clifford (Saracens, 3 caps)
• Amy Cokayne (Leicester Tigers, 72 caps)
• Maddie Feaunati (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
• Rosie Galligan (Saracens, 14 caps)
• Lizzie Hanlon (Exeter Chiefs, uncapped)
• Sadia Kabeya (Loughborough Lightning, 13 caps)
• Alex Matthews (Gloucester-Hartpury, 62 caps)
• Maud Muir (Gloucester-Hartpury, 25 caps)
• Cath O’Donnell (Loughborough Lightning, 30 caps)
• Marlie Packer (Saracens, 99 caps)
• Connie Powell (Harlequins, 14 caps)
• Morwenna Talling (Sale Sharks, 11 caps)
• Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears, 61 caps)

Backs (16)

• Holly Aitchison (Bristol Bears, 25 caps)
• Sophie Bridger (Saracens, 2 caps)
• Jess Breach (Saracens, 33 caps)
• Abby Dow (Trailfinders Women, 40 caps)
• Sydney Gregson (Saracens, 3 caps)
• Zoe Harrison (Saracens, 46 caps)
• Tatyana Heard (Gloucester-Hartpury, 18 caps)
• Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury, 67 caps)
• Megan Jones (Leicester Tigers, 16 caps)
• Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins, 38 caps)
• Vicky Laflin (Trailfinders Women, uncapped)
• Lucy Packer (Harlequins, 16 caps)
• Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning, 28 caps)
• Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning, 108 caps)
• Emma Sing (Gloucester-Hartpury, 6 caps)
• Ella Wyrwas (Saracens, 6 caps)

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